AKB0048: The Knight and the Star
by LunarDarkness8897
Summary: What would happen to the story if a protective knight and a believed idol return from the past in order to guide and protect the future of the AKB legacy? Join Atsuko Maeda the first and her knight Ito as they return AKB0048 to its former glory. Takes place alongside the Anime. Slight Angel Beats crossover. Lots of OC characters and personalities. Please review
1. Prologue: Return of the Star

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to AKB48, AKB0048, any of the characters besides Ito and Sachs. If I did, this would be how the show termed out. I also do not own the rights the Shinda Sakai Sensei, or anything else you might recognize.

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Prologue 1: Return of the Star

*Unknown Location*

It was a cold, dark, and depressing day on the abandoned planet. There was nothing there besides rocks and dead trees. The sun had imploded on itself years ago and the planet was unable to sustain life.

Suddenly a black hole appeared at the entrance of a cave. Now something was different about this black hole. Black hole typically have no light emitting from it but this one was different. From the black hole, a colorful rainbow was swirling around it and if you listen close enough, you could hear the faint sound of music emanating from the hole.

From the rainbow of light, the purple ray began to shift, as if some thing or someone was changing the nature of the ray. The purple ray charged into a ball of purple energy. It moved away from the black hole and went towards the ground. As it reached the ground, the ball of energy began to take a more solidified form. Almost akin to a human form.

As the light from the energy form faded away it revealed a girl around 16 years of age that wore a short dress with black, red, and white checkered prints all across it. The girl had a dark brown almost midnight black hair and eyes more violet that those of the purest amethyst. A single golden star shone in her eyes. Once the light had completely faded away the girl collapsed gasping for air. Once she had got a full set of lungs she looked around confused.

"Where am I?" The girl asked in a voice that sounded like a melody.

"You have been returned to the world of the living." A deep voice said from the black hole. The girl turned her head to the hole and gasped in recognition of the voice.

"Sensei Sensei. Where am I? Why am I not on the stage in your realm?" The girl asked confused.

"A great danger awaits this realm. One of the greatest battles for the fate of the world is upon us. Entertainment will win, but at a great cost, men will die before the end of this war."

"What does this have to do with me? I already have paid the price for your aide in ending the war on Earth. I should be on the forever stage protecting everyone from the darkness inside." The girl said hysterically. She had given up Where humanity at the end of the war in order to protect everyone forever. She knew that the price was great but necessary. Her only regret was leaving the man who she called a fiancé.

"You were not the only one that paid a price." Said Sensei Sensei with great shock to the girl.

"What do you mean that I wasn't the only one to pay a price?"

"The request you made required two parts to it. To create the forever stage, one must give up their humanity. To maintain the forever stage, one must give up their end." This shocked the girl even more. She knew that what Sensei Sensei meant by the end was death. But to give up the possibility of dying and being at peace forever, she couldn't think of a single soul who would do such a thing.

"He is the reason you have been returned. He is a powerful force that has aided you from this side in keeping the faith alive. He was the original protector of the organization known as AKB48." Tears began to form as Sensei Sensei uttered those words. There was only one man who could be deemed as the protector of AKB48. The man who had been there since it's founding and the only man who would have the power to make a difference in the upcoming war.

"But he has begun to lose faith. It has been many moons since he has heard the holy songs. He has forgotten what it means to be AKB48. You have been returned to the place where the contract between us three was made. In the cave behind you, you will find him. Bring him back to AKB48 and help him make a difference in the war. If you do this, then I will give you two a single gift. The greatest gift within my power, your curses will end and you two can reach the forever stage together." The tears were flowing like a coursing river after he said this. All she ever wanted was to be together with him.

Knowing now what she must do, she turned around and ran as fast as she could down the cave hopping to find her beloved. Seeing that the girl had left, the black hole began to disperse while uttering one final phrase.

"Good chance and luck….

Maeda Atsuko."


	2. Prologue: The knight

Prologue 2: The Knight

As the newly name Atsuko Maeda ran down the cave, she could feel the air getting warmer and warmer.

'How could this be?' She asked herself. As far as she knew the cave was only on the surface of the long forgotten planet. Little did she know that as she continued she was travelling deeper and deeper underground.

After what seemed like an eternity, Atsuko Maeda saw a dim light up ahead. She ran ahead knowing that her beloved was close by. She ran until she entered a magnificent cavern. There was not a single spot of darkness as the crystals growing from the ground, ceiling, and walls illuminated a bright light. Maeda Atsuko could also see little glowing balls flying around all over the place. As she looked closer, she saw that these glowing balls where actually creatures, ones not native to Earth as she remembered it, but recognized them all the same.

'Kirara!' She thought as she looked upon the amazing sight. The kirara danced around as they did in the realm of the forever stage. No two of the kirara look alike, though there was one thing at she had realized. The Kirara were created from idols and reflected them. Be it either by mimicking their hair styles if they are unique or in a few cases, the kirara reflected the inner animal of the idol.

The glowing crystals were something she also recognized. The crystal known as Dualium, a crystal that interacts with an idol's aura. With the right amount of aura and Dualium, an idol would easily be able to enter the forever stage. But there has never been a greater concentration of Dualium than right here.

As she marveled at the sight around her, she heard a growl coming from behind her. She slowly turned around and was met face to face with the largest kirara she had ever seen. The kirara was a light green kangaroo as big as a large fridge and was smaller than a really large fridge (get the reference and it's that big). It growled as it hopped closer and closer until it was almost nose to nose with Maeda Atsuko before it stopped.

The kirara sniffed the air almost as if it was trying to ascertain the new person as a threat. After about a minute of the kirara sniffing her, Atsuko Maeda had to jump back as the kirara licked her face. As Atsuko was trying to move the saliva away from her eyes, the kirara made some noise as if it was laughing.

Once it was done laughing, the kirara hopped away before stopping and looking back at her with a look that seemed to ask if she was coming or not. Not knowing what to do Maeda Atsuko followed the kirara hoping that it would lead her to her beloved. As they turned around an outcrop of Dualium, she saw a giant statue made of Dualium. Each person in the statue was an ex member of AKB48, specifically the original members who helped with the Ascension, the Kami 7. There was the original Takahashi Minami with her signature bow in her hair. There was also the original Yuko Oshima, Yuki Kashiwagi, Mariko Shinoda, Mayu Watanabe, and Haruna Kojima.

But in the center of the group was the largest and most dazzling statue of herself. The kirara seemed to flock around the statue in large numbers. But it was the figure at the base of the statue that sent Maeda Atsuko into a river of tears. As she looked upon the figure kneeling at the statue, her mind began trailing back to when she was in high school. A muscular foreigner boy being introduced to her class, their times outside of class teaching Japanese, the love that developed, their Kiss, and the promise they made together.

*Flash Back*

_"__It's been so much fun being with you this whole time. Even though it was only a short time ago that we first met, I can't imagine my life without you. I love you…" A high school girl said with a high pitch voice before a high school boy cut her off with a deep voice._

_"__Stop, don't call me by that name. That name ties me back to the horrible nation I came from, a nation of lies, war and destruction. Not the same as this nation of honor, peace, and tradition." Once he had said that the boy tilted his head down._

_"__You know you can change your name. Your new name would be a name that represent your new life and your new home." The girl said as she lifted up his head to look him in his tearful brown eyes._

_"__I would appreciate it if you would name me. You helped to make me into a respectful man in the eyes of this nation, it would only be right."_

_"__Very well, I'll name you Ito, Ito Maeda." _

_"Maeda? But isn't that your family name?"_

_"__Yeah but aren't you my family?"_

_"__Yeah but.."_

_"__No buts, you are mine just as I am yours."_

_"__Ok then I'll be doing this properly then." Said the man as he got down and kneeled before her._

_"__Forever will I be your Ito, I will protect you. I will fight for you. I will even lay down my life and my death for you. So long as you will be my Suko as well." The man in black said as he knelt down and took off the ring he wore. A single silver band with seven crosses engraved on it._

_Forever I will be your Suko." She said with a smile as he gently placed his ring on her finger._

*Flashback End*

As she twisted the ring on her left hand, she saw the kirara that she was following approached the kneeling figure. It jumped and looked like it was trying to kick the kneeling man but right before the kick would have connected, the kirara faded and revealed to be on the sleeveless left arm of the kneeling man. If Maeda Atsuko looked closer she could see the kirara was a moving tattoo on the arm of the man and right above that was a symbol she would never forget. A symbol that he had adopted as his own from an anime years ago. A shield, with three S's across it and just one phrase underneath,

"Rebels Against the Americas." Maeda Atsuko whispered in a baited breath. Seemingly, as her voice had broken a curse, the figure on the ground began to move. As he stood up, Atsuko Maeda saw a man around the age of 16 with skin easily darker than most people.

"Suko?" He asked in a deep and raspy voice, as if his voice hadn't been used in years, which it probably hasn't. His face held an expression of confusion. The last time he saw her was on the day the war ended, when she had entered into the forever stage.

At the mere mention of her name, the tears began to well up in her eyes. "Ito!" She cried out as she ran straight towards the newly named Ito. With a leap she jumped into his arms and cried tears of joy. As Ito realized that this was truly his Suko, he began to cry as well.

"Ito, I'm so sorry that I left. I needed to stop the war before it destroyed the world. Sensei Sensei never told me that you also gave up something. It pained me day after day for all these years to not being able to be with you." Ito squeezed held her more as if believing that she would disappear if he let her go. In a sullen voice he asked her,

"Did he say when my curse would be revoked and I would be able to be able to return to the theatre with you and the others?" Suko was actually shocked that he would ask about the future so soon after her return. She moved away from him and lifted up his chin so that their eyes were level with each other. In a soft voice she spoke to her.

"There is a war coming, according to Sensei Sensei. The war will end with the side of AKB being victorious, but at great cost. Many innocent and civilians will be sacrificed in order to protect AKB. Sensei Sensei has agreed to revoke your curse allowing you to pass on or even go to the forever stage right after the war ends if you are able to prevent the loss of hope for many. Just by AKB being under your protection, the DES would be hesitant to engage due to your previous history." After hearing this, Ito only had one word to say.

"Why?"

"It's because one of the girls has the potential to be on the same aura level as the original Kami 7, according to Sensei Sensei." Suko said surprising Ito. If even a single person had the idol had half the aura of the seventh member, they would have the power to capture the hearts of the toughest leaders of the DES. With a sigh Ito looked in Suko's eyes with determination.

"Suko, I have been guarding the door of the theatre from outside since you opened its door all those years ago. I haven't been able to hear the music for so long, after this is all over, I'll come and guard the stage like I used to do." As he said this, golden stars appeared in his eyes. He shook his head and said. "But let us not dwell on the matter. Sensei Sensei brought you back for a reason and this war must truly be big in order for the both of us to be needed. AKB isn't the same as the last time you told me of your successor. They have protected entertainment more times than I can count but they still are missing the point. Mariko's last successor graduated all because the 13th entered the realm of the nova. She lost sight of the point of AKB and has set her sights on finding out what happened to her sister." Ito told her as if he were talking to Mayu.

"Moh, don't talk to me like I'm a kid." Suko said as she stomped her foot down.

"Ok, ok, we leave in a minute. Let me put on my stuff." He said as he walked towards a corner of the cave that Suko hadn't noticed before. On the wall of the cave, was an outfit that she recognized from the war. Black pants, white shirt, and a golden school jacket. On the right sleeve, Suko could see the flag of war time japan. On the other sleeve, well there wasn't a sleeve. Instead there was a single vambrace with the same SSS logo engraved in it. On the back of the jacket was the letters AKB and underneath that was the number 48, all of which was written in pink block lettering. Below all of that was the word SUKO written in purple capital English letters. There was also a pair of black sunglasses that looked like the recon glasses he used to wear.

While Ito got changed into the outfit that Suko had seen on the wall, Suko walked over to where there was two old world microphones lay on top of two pillars. On one pillar the microphone rested on a purple pillow and on the other the microphone rested on a vibrant green pillow.

"What is this thing?" Suko asked aloud as she picked up the one that rested on the purple pillow. She pressed a button on the microphone and a glowing purple blade emerged from the bottom end of the microphone.

"I see you found your micsaber." Ito said as he came back garbed in the black pants, jacket, vambrace, and the pair of recon sunglasses. "Be careful with that. It's the weapon that the successors use to defend themselves."

"You will teach me how to use this right?" She asked him with a determined look in her eyes.

"Of course I will. It's the same as using a katana." He said as e waled right past her to the other podium. Picking up the microphone on the green pillow, he activated it to make sure it was still in working condition. Seeing that the condition was good, Ito deactivated the sword and put it in a pocket on the inside of his jacket.

"Kirara come out." Ito said. In response the green kangaroo jumped out off of Ito's skin. "GO and tell Mariko to bring my platform with her. Don't ask what I'm talking about because I won't say. If she decides to ask tell her the truth, the knight is escorting one of the Kami7 home." As he said this the kirara vanished into thin air to the surprise of Suko. She didn't realize how close of a connection he had with his kirara.

As he started walking out of the cave, he stopped to look back. "Well are you coming or not, Suko?"


	3. Chapter 1: Kami and the Hopefuls

Chapter 1: Kami and the Hopefuls

*Space Shuttle to Auditions*

"Where are those girls, shouldn't they be on this flight?" Suko asked Ito. In order to ensure that no one recognized the outfit of a member of AKB0048, Suko had changed into civilian clothes thanks to the help of both Ito and kirara magic.

"They are probably in the dining hall. Let's go there and check." Said Ito. Not having anything better to do, Ito and Suko went to the dining hall. Not seeing them at first Ito and Suko decided to get some food while they were there.

"Where do you want to sit?" Ito asked as he held a plate in both hands. One of the plates had the food for Ito and the other was a plate for Suko.

"Why don't we sit next at the table with the girls going to audition?" Asked Suko in an almost bored tone of voice. While indicating a table with a group of girls with hearts in their hair, barely visible but still there. Not having any kind of witty response, Ito and Suko walked over to the table that had a group of 5 girls. AS they approached the girls began to quiet down.

"Excuse me." Ito said, scaring the girls because of his deep voice. "Is this seat taken?" gesturing to two seats.

"Um sure?" the girl with pink hair said timidly.

"Thank you." Ito said pulling out a chair with his foot for Suko. Once Suko had sat down, Ito set down her plate in front of her. Ito then sat down in the other chair and began to eat his food. All five of the girls began staring at the Suko and Ito until Suko had finished her last bite. Once Suko had finished her food, she looked up to meet the gaze of the girls.

"Now that I'm done, let's talk about AKB." Suko said in a calm tone shocking the other girls.

"Um what do you mean?" Asked the same pink hair girl again with fear evident in her voice.

"There is no need to be afraid. I am a representative of AKB0048, charged with safeguarding you all until you meet AKB. And by you all, yes I mean you, little one under the table and the other girl." Said Ito showing his back as proof.

"How can we be sure that you are here to protect us and that you won't just turn us in to the DES?" The blonde girl said as she stood up. This caused Ito to smile, it had been so long that someone didn't realize the symbols on his body that when someone thought him dishonest, he would find it completely funny.

As he was about to reply, alarms began blaring causing both Ito and Suko to stand up. In the area above the shuttle, they could see DES agents attempting to enter the shuttle. "Suko, go with the girls and protect them. Make sure that they make it to where the other kirara is." Ito said as his sunglasses turned into a violent shade of red. "Make it quick ok, the real show is about to begin."

As soon as Ito said this, Suko began rounding up the girls. "Who are you?" asked the pink haired girl.

"For now call me Maeda, as for who I am, let's just say I might be auditioning alongside you."

"No way are you going to the auditions. You're at least four years older than us. We're doomed! Now I know that I won't become a 00 member." Said the blue haired girl.

"There is no time to argue, we have to go now. There is another person we have to collect."

"That must be Chieri." Said the girl with blonde pig tails. "Thank goodness she is alright. Let's go." With that we went down a few winding and twisting halls. Suko kept following the aura that was being released by the lone kirara on the ship. It led her and the Hopefulls to the formal dining hall. As they opened the door to the hall, they were met by a single crew member guarding a group of what seemed to be civilians that were trembling for their lives. As Suko looked for the kirara she saw a single person off to the side with the unglowing kirara next to her. As Suko began to approach the person, she heard a scream. She turned around and saw that the pink haired girl was being held from behind by one of the DES agents.

"Nagisa!" The girl with long pink hair said.

"We've got one of the brats in captivity and now we can remove some more pieces from the board." Said the one holding Nagisa as he narrowed the barrel of his gun at Suko's head. As she looked down the barrel of the gun, Suko's mind travelled to what Ito told her as they approached the shuttle.

*Flashback*

_"__We are probably going to encounter the DES en route to the auditions. If we get separated and you are forced to engage a member of the DES, all you have to do is sing. Me and kirara will take care of the rest."_

*Flashback"

At that moment Suko knew what she had to do. With minimal movement, Suko moved into the beginning stance that her sister Minami had done over and over again.

'Calm down. You've done this song a million times before.' Suko thought to herself as she began.

"What is she doing?" the blonde girl asked to the girl with long blue hair.

'I am wondering the same thing myself.' Suko thought. 'Here goes nothing.'

**AKB**

After she had said those words almost everyone knew who she was, but as the DES agents began to move, they realized that they could no longer help but stare at her. At the same time, a purple aura of power began forming around Suko. The civilians on the other hand began muttering to themselves.

"That aura!" "It can't be anything but an" "Idol."

**48**

"No 00?" Asked one of the other girls, obviously confused as to why Suko suddenly began to sing and dance River but with slightly different lyrics. But at the moment Suko said "48," the aura that had been gathering around her suddenly burst forth and pushed the DES agents down including the one who was holding Nagisa who used this opportunity to get away.

**Mae e susume! (Got it!)**

**Tachidomaru na! (Got it!)**

At this point, the kirara that had been by the other girl began to slowly move towards Suko and began to glow brighter than anyone in the room had ever seen a kirara glow.

**Mezasu wa hi ga noboru basho**

**Kibou no michi wooaruk!**

Suddenly a guard came running in and began to shoot at Suko. But to everyone's surprise and the surprise of Suko, the kirara that had been glowing ever so brightly blocked the attack by erecting a shield in front of Suko. Before anyone could react, a loud bang echoed around the room. As everyone looked for the source of the noise, the saw it in the appearance of Ito at the front door, with his head pointed towards the ground. In his hand, he held a katana.

"For attempted murder of one of the Kami7, the Shinda Sekai Sensen, sentence you to immediate death!" Ito roared as he looked up to reveal his red sunglass laden eyes. At the mention of the Shinda Sekai Sense, the DES member's eyes looked directly towards Ito's left sleeve to see the mark for themselves. Once they had confirmed that Ito was indeed Shinda Sekai Sensen, they began to back away. In the DES member's training, they had to learn the history of the DES. There was one person that always caused destruction whenever he was involved, He called himself Shinda Sekai Sensen. Ito rushed forward causing the two DES members who were there before to flee, leaving only the one who fired at Suko. As he stalked towards the man, Ito continued moving forward.

**Yukute Habamu River! River! River!**

**Yokotawaru River!**

**Enmei no River! River! River!**

**Tamesareru River!**

Each time he sang river he swung the katana in front of him causing the DES agent to fear him even more. Before Ito could engage in combat against the DES member, Suko ran infront of him.

"You idiot, remember you are in front of teenage girls and civilians. Would bringing blood before their eyes be honorable? What about the man who is unarmed on the floor? Would it be honorable to kill him as he is? Wouldn't that go against the code, or would you be disobeying your own code?" With each question, the redness in Ito's sunglasses faded until it was pitch black. Realizing what he was about to do, Ito turned to the DES agent and only said one word,

"Go." With that one word, the DES man ran from the Ito as quickly as possible. Once the man was out of his sight, Ito turned to the girls.

"Hello little ones, what are your names?" He said as calm as he could, as if he hadn't almost killed someone. AS Nagisa was the bravest of them all, she spoke first in a timid voice.

"I'm Nagisa sssir. These are my friends Orine, Makoto, Sonata, Suzuko, and Yuko. If I may ask, who are you?"

"You may ask as it is of no trouble or consequence to me. As I said before, I am a guardian of AKB sent here to help ensure your safety as we approach the auditions. It is my job to protect and guard the successors to the originals in their journey across the stars." Ito said like it was nothing at all. But to the girls, this was one of the most interesting things to happen since they became hopefuls. Except for one of the girls,

"Well if you have been a protector of AKB0048, why have we not heard or seen you?" Yuko asked in a snobby tone. This made Ito laugh because every new hopeful always asked him that.

"Wait I remember you." Orine said with a new found admiration in her eyes.

"WHATT?" asked a shocked Nagisa and Yuko.

"He was there at the concert on Lancastor. He was the one you called an idiot for fighting off missiles with a single katana." Orine said directly speaking towards Yuko.

"Thank you for remembering me. Now that the introductions have been taken care of, our ride should be here in 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4." As Ito counted down, everyone in the room including the civilians began to see a blinding light and the sound of music began to pump through the speakers.

"It's AKB0048!" Nagisa said in a happy voice.

"3. 2. 1." When Ito said 1, the door to the room burst open to reveal a battle ready Takamin, Kojiharu, Sayaka, and Tomochin flying on their platforms.

"AKB0048 taking the stage!" Takamina said in a proud voice until she realized that there were no DES agents in the room. Once she realized this, she face vaulted forward.

"Girls get the civilians to safety while I escort these girls to the airlock." Takamina told the others.

AS the group of girls plus Ito and Suko made their way to the airlock, Nagisa reached up to her hair. She suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong Nagisa?" Yuko asked.

"It's gone! It must have… I forgot something!" Replied Nagisa as she turned around and began to run back to the room where the DES confrontation occurred.

"Idiot! This is not the time." Yuko started to say but was cut off be a stern Ito.

"That is enough young Yuko. She has lost something of great value to her and she wishes that it returns." Ito walked over and kissed Suko, making the others blush a deep crimson red. "I will go and protect her to make sure she returns safely. Suko take them to the airlock. I will meet you guys there." With that Ito began to run off in the direction of Nagisa.

When Ito arrived in the room, he saw a girl with long blue hair trapped under a chandelier.

"Chieri!" Nagisa called as she got up off of the floor. Hoping to see the interactions between the new generation, Ito went off to the side of the entrance and just hung out in the corner, unnoticed by the two.

"I thought I told you, everyone in AKB0048 is a rival." Chieri said. When she had said those words, Ito began to feel saddened by her words.

'That is the exact opposite of what we are about.' Thought Ito, right as he was about to go and set Chieri straight, Nagisa stoop up and began to try lifting the chandelier.

"This is no time to be saying that!" Nagisa said with a grunt.

"If you don't abandon me here, you'll be the one to regret it." Chieri said in a studious voice, almost as if she was reprimanding Nagisa. "I won't be easy to beat."

"I think that you're wrong." Nagisa shouted in a determined voice. "Maybe 0048 is competitive. Maybe they're all rivals. But what do you call the battle we saw? If they were all against each other, they wouldn't have had such great team work. They trust their friends and support each other. That is the 00 I want to join." With those words, Nagisa returned to trying to lift the chandelier.

"So you don't care if you fail?" Chieri asked almost screaming at Nagisa.

"I won't fail!"

"You're just saying that!"

"I will join 00! Together with you! I swear!"

"Nagisa." Right then the kirara that had been with Chieri the whole time began to glow a vibrant green. It flew right in front of them and then up into the air. Ito could feel that the kirara was acting as a beacon for the nearest Aura sensitive person to find their location.

'A promise under the idol's aura. These two are definitely the most interesting of the group.' Ito thought to himself as the kirara continued to pulse.

"Why?" Chieri asked. The kirara had never glowed for her before no matter what she tried to do. 'Why does it glow for her?'

"It's the birth of an idol!" A new voice said. From the entrance, Yuuko flew in on one platform while towing a golden platform along with her. She slowed down and came to a stop right in front of the girls.

Ito actually was surprised, for here stood one of the first girls he truly trained since the originals. After all that time he had spent with her, he had begun to see her as a little sister. But for the little trainee to become biggest stars of AKB0048 right now. It was amazing.

"Yuuko-san?" Nagisa asked.

"Hi!" Yuuko said in the same old voice he remembered. Yuuko stuck her finger up into the air. Noticing this, the kirara floated down from its position above Nagisa and Chieri and onto that outstretched digit. Yuuko pulled her hand back in and gave the kirara a kiss. "Good girl."

"Kirara?" Asked a confused Chierie.

"Did you know? These critters are a testament to our presence." Yuuko said hopping off the platform. As she walked over to where Nagisa was trying to lift the chandelier, she continued. "Kirara are attracted to an idol's aura and glow in resonance with it."

"An idol's aura?"

**Gangan natteru music.**

**Heavy Rotation!**

As Yuuko sang this, the kirara began to radiate light again. Yuuko's colorless and dull outfit changed into a dress similar to the one that Suko wore when she appeared again in this realm. Along with the change in outfit, Yuuko also picked up the chandelier and tossed it away.

"Is this the radiance of a successor?" Questioned Chieri amazed at the sight occurring before her very eyes.

"Up you go." Yuuko said as she picked up Chierii, causing a blush to form on both Nagisa and Chieri. Chieri tried to apologize to Yuko but was waved off.

"Won't worry about it. But why is this guy with you?" Yuuko asked while motioning towards the kirara.

"When I was young, I went to your guerilla concert on Lancastar. Afterwards he followed me home."

"That's when it happened, huh?" At this moment, Ito thought it would be a good time to let his old student know that he was there.

Ito walked up behind Yuuko and laid a hand on her shoulder. This caused Yuuko to jump around and tried to kick Ito's head but got caught by Ito's hand.

"Ito-nii!" Yuuko shouted as she put down Chieri on the platform and gave Ito a hug. "Ito you idiot, why did you leave everyone, you missed my becoming Yuuko? Why did you leave all of a sudden?" The tears started to come out of her eyes. "Acchan disappeared and without you to offer your nonverbal support, Mariko graduated." Hearing this cause Ito to feel saddened.

"I apologize Imouto." Ito said as he patted her head. Yuuko's jaw dropped as she heard the voice of her mentor. In the past 3 decades, no one from AKB0048 had heard his voice. The only time anyone ever heard him speak was when he sung the ballad at the concert at Acchan the 5th's graduation concert. It was the most beautiful gift given at the time.

"Nii-san, did you just speak?"

"That I did, my voice and heart are back with me now." This confused Yuuko as she had no idea what he meant by that. "In apology, I might do a concert to show that I can truly speak." Before Yuuko could respond to the knowledge about this a voice could be overheard on the headset that Yuuko wore. The voice, which belonged to Takamina, began to chew Yuuko out.

"Yuuko, what are you doing?"

"I've secured two young hopefuls and a knight of the rising sun!" This confused Nagisa and Chieri as they had no idea what the knight of the rising sun meant. To Takamina, it meant something amazing.

"He's there? Does that mean…" before Takamina could continue her line of thought, Yuuko interrupted her.

"Yep! Guess what. He actually spoke to me."

"WHATTT? But that is unheard of. The last time that he spoke was ages ago. What did he say?"

"He said that he was sorry and that he might put on a legendary concert in order to prove his apology." Before Takamina could respond to this shocking news, Yuuko continued. "We're heading to the airlock now so you can question him once we get back to the Flying Get."

With that she took off her headset and placed it in her pocket as she hopped on the platform, picking up Chieri in the process.

As Ito hopped onto the golden platform, he asked Yuuko if she wanted to race.

"Nii-san, why do you have to be so mean? We both know that you would win even if did switch platforms. How about this, you take the pink haired girl while I take this cutie here?" causing Chieri to have a big blush show on her face. Nagisa, laughing while she did, walked over to Ito's platform. She felt that she could trust this man to protect her and her dreams.

"Hold on tight," Yuuko said as the platforms began to move forward," It's gonna be wild!" With that both Ito and Yuuko pushed their platforms to the limits scaring both Nagisa, who was holding onto Ito's waist, and Chieri, who curled up into Yuuko.

As the two raced down the hallway, Ito pulled out in front of Yuuko and touched down in the airlock before Yuuko and Chieri. Once he landed, Nagisa rushed over to Orine and Yuko just as Yuuko arrived with Chieri.

"Yuuka! Orine!" Nagisa cried as she rushed over to her friends.

"Hey sorry we're late!" Yuuko said in a loud voice.

"No kidding!" Takamina shouted back.

As the girls were embracing, Orine noticed the figure that Yuuko carried in her arms. "Is that…"

"Yeah! It's Chieri!" Confirmed Nagisa.

"No way!" Yuko yelled in shock. While Nagisa was trying to calm the two girls down from their excited state, Yuuko placed Chieri on the ground.

"Okay! You're safe now."

'She is just trying to jinx us all, isn't she?" Ito thought as he shook his head.

Nagisa, knowing that Chieri was still injured, ran over to Chieri and placed Chieri's arm around her shoulder for support. "Nagisa?" Chieri asked while wondering why she was helping her.

"Let's go."

Just as Nagisa said those words, a blast from the entrance to the airlock caused everyone to look at the oncoming scene. There, entering the airlock was a giant war machine causing all the hopefuls and Suko to become frightened.

"Everyone, into the shuttle!" Yuuko shouted hoping to draw the attention of the machine away from the girls for enough time. Takamina noticing the way the machine was constructed, flew over to Mayuyu on the platform.

"Mayuyu, the suit is unmanned." This excited Mayuyu due to her now being able to cut loose.

"Understood." She said as a targeting screen and a small version of a rocket launcher popped out of her arm. "Missiles: Armed." Closing one eye to concentrate, Mayuyu aimed her arm at the head of the massive machine, "Target: Locked on. Fire" AS she said fire, a rocket blasted out of the launcher and struck the machine dead on.

"Mayuyu's got you back, girls!" She said as she turned around. The girls were all amazed at what Mayuyu had done.

"Mayuyu is a …" But before Orine could continue that statement, Yuuko rushed them all into the shuttle.

"Suko, go inside with them." Ito said. "You aren't ready yet for outside protection of this craft. I'll hand the perimeter of the shuttle. Just follow these girls until I meet up with you again."

With that Suko followed the girls into the shuttle, as the shuttle door finally closed. Takamina called an imidiate retreat. Knowing what this meant, every person standing on a flying platform kicked a spot on the platform. This caused the platform to transform into a space ready flight vessel, including weaponry and also a vacuum shield filled with air.

As the group flew out of the airlock hanger, the successors and Ito flew in close to the shuttle to provide an armed escort. It was only a short while later that they arrived in the Flying Get's docking and storage bay.

"Attention, all hands! The ship will now enter emergency Kirara Drive! All LAS in combat, return immediately. All hands, prepare for the shockwave! Brace yourselves! This was your acting captain, Yukirin the 6th! Over and out!" called out a voice over the speakers in the bay.

Takamina, acting quickly, shouted out a warning to the new girls. "Every one, grab onto something!" As everyone struggled to find something to hold onto, Ito calmly called over to Suko. "Suko come here." Once Suko got to him, Ito used the magic of the kirara to cause his boots stick to the metal on the ground.

All of a sudden, both the kirara that Chieri had and the kirara that Ito had on his arm began to spin in circles until they spun so fast they could not be seen clearly anymore. With that, the ship jerked forward at a speed faster than light. Everyone in the hanger began to scream in terror, with the exception of Ito and Suko who were laughing their heads off as if they were on a rollercoaster back in Tokyo Disneyland.


	4. Chapter 2: Fight For the Future

Chapter 2: Fight for the Future

AS the flying get docked in one of the hangers of the main AKB0048 ship, the group of hopefuls, Suko, and Ito were ushered off to a room where the other hopefuls were gathered. The room was a hard wood floor that resembled the old practice studio of the original AKB.

As Suko looked around the room, she saw a grand piano situated close to the front of the room. As she looked closer she realized that it was her piano, the piano that she and Minami bought together when they first joined AKB. "Ito, Look." Suko said with a dazed tone as she continued to gaze at the piano.

"Hahaha,." Ito laughed as he saw Suko marveling at her old piano. "Why don't I play you a song?" After Ito had said this Suko grabbed his arm and quickly dragged him over to the piano. Once he and Suko had both sat down, he took off his jacket, allowing his right arm complete movement. He then hung it over the railing next to the piano. After cracking his knuckles, Ito tested out the piano by playing a few scales. After taking a deep breathe, Ito closed his eyes and began to play a melodious into and began to sing.

**Mezamete ha kurikaesu nemui asa ha**

**Eri no TAI wo kitsuku shime**

**Kyoushitsu no DOA kuguru to honno sukoshi mune wo hatte arukidaseru**

**Sonna nichijou ni fuknukeru kaze**

As Ito sung, the kirara on his arm began to glow as a green light flowed from the kirara and around Ito as he continued his song. Unknown to Ito, whose eyes were still closed, Tsubasa-san entered the room to address the hopefuls but was met with Ito's performance. She could only gawk at the sight, no aura she had seen had ever come close to what she was seeing from Ito.

Tsubasa shook her head to get her back in the right mindset and turned on the PA system that connected the practice hall to the rest of the ship. All throughout the vessel, understudies and successors alike all dropped whatever they were doing and just stopped to listen to the music, not wanting to miss a single note of the performance.

**Kikoeta ki ga shita ****  
****Kanjita ki ga shitan da ****  
****Furuedasu ima kono mune de ****  
****Mou kuru ki ga shita ****  
****Ikuoku no hoshi ga kiesatteku no wo ****  
****Miokutta ****  
****Te wo futta ****  
****Yokatta ne, to**

**Rouka no sumi miorosu souji no tochuu ****  
****Okashina mono da to omou ****  
****Atashi no naka no toki ha tomatteru noni ****  
****Chigau hibi wo ikiteru you ni ****  
****Hokori ha yuki no you ni furitsumu ****  
****Matteru ki ga shita ****  
****Yonderu ki ga shitan da ****  
****Furuedasu ima kono toki ga ****  
****Mitsuketa ki ga shita ****  
****Ushinawareta kioku ga yobisamashita ****  
****Monogatari ****  
****Eien no ****  
****Sono owari**

**Itsunomanika kakedashiteta ****  
****Anata ni te wo hikareteta ****  
****Kinou ha tooku ashita ha sugu ****  
****Sonna atarimae ni koko ga odotta**

**Itsunomanika kakedashiteta ****  
****Anata ni te wo hikareteta ****  
****Kinou ha tooku ashita ha sugu ****  
****Sonna atarimae ni koko ga odotta**

As Ito finished the song, he opened his eyes only to be met with a room full of tearful hopefuls, Suko, and Tsubasa. Everyone was still in shock at what an amazing performance they had heard, no one had ever heard anywhere close to how beautiful that voice was. The lucky ones who had seen the vid feeds of Ito's other concert could only think one thing 'The vids don't do him justice at all.' As Ito looked over at Suko, she leaned in close to him and they pulled each other in for a deep kiss.

Chieri and Nagisa had plenty of tears in their eyes yet they were also very curious. They both heard from Yuuko that the kirara react to the aura of an idol and that is what causes them to glow. But how did a man come to find a kirara? Let alone be able to glow so blindingly all due to a basic piano performance for a group of people?

"Oi. Now that the performance by our very own Ito is over, let's begin. Welcome. I am AKB0048's manager and producer, Katagiri Tsubasa."

"Manager?" A wondering Orine asked.

"You will be going through the selection process for the 77th generation. Only those who pass will become understudies and be invited to our planet, the home of 00 Stage, Akibastar."

"Akibastar." Nagisa said with a determined look in her eyes. That was where she had to go to fulfill her dream.

"The theme of this audition will be 'Beginner.' The successful performance of 'Beginner' is the criterion for passing." Once Tsubasa had said this, all the girls began to talk amongst themselves.

"I love that song!" said a cheerful Yuuka, but that changed when Orine reminded her that it had some of the most difficult choreography.

"I-I can probably handle 'Beginner,' I think…" said a stuttering yet cheerful Makoto.

"Pay attention to what I said." Clapped Tsubasa trying to get the girls attention back to her. "A successful performance is necessary for you to pass, understand? You will now be undergoing a round of intensive training." Right as she said this Kojiharu rushed past her. "Okey-Dokey! Don't fall behind girls. Here." As she said this, she handed what looked like a new age microphone into the hands of Nagisa.

Not knowing what was special about the mic, Nagisa clicked the button and a glowing blue saber of light jutted out of its hilt. Ito was shocked, did he not train Mariko? Why put all these idiots through micsaber training, a skill that only understudies and up should know, if not all of them are going to pass anyway? Nagisa, being surprised by the sudden appearance of the glowing saber, fumbled around with it and accidentally swung it causing everyone in the room to duck to avoid the blade.

Kojiharu quickly grabbed the micsaber from the hands of Nagisa, ensuring that she didn't injure her fellow hopefuls.

"Not quite! Meet the assault micsaber!" Kojiharu said striking a pose so that the blade pointed away from her yet she could still sing if she wanted you to. When she turned it off, all the other girls were confused.

"What?" Jumping on the confusion of the girls, Kojiharu ushered them out of the room leaving just Sonata, Tsubasa, Suko, and Ito alone in the room. "Practice time. Hurry along now!" Tsubasa faked a movement to leave the room when Sonata grabbed the hem of her pants.

"And who are you?" Tsubasa asked, pretending to not care as to who this girl was.

"Sonata." With a determined look in her eyes. "I'm participating in the selection round!" When Tsubasa looked into Sonata's eyes, she noticed the key feature, the feature that marked every single member of AKB0048. Hearts in their eyes.

"Go ahead." Tsubasa said to the excitement of Sonata. As Sonata raced out of the room to join the other girls. Tsubasa turned around to Ito and Suko.

"Ito, as the manager of AKB0048, I welcome you home to the stage. I have heard you have begun to speak."

"I have begun to speak again. The cloud that has closed my heart from speaking has been moved. My voice is mine again." As Tsubasa heard Ito speak, she was shocked. She had heard Ito's singing now she was hearing him speak. It was only rumored that he spoke but no one had heard him speak since the last member of the original successors went through the center nova effect.

"Ito who is this that you have brought with you to this group? I didn't know that you knew anyone." At this point Suko decided to step in.

"You, Mariko the fifth, have never known me that well. But I knew your predecessors, all four of them. You have never known me, but your sister knew me well." When Suko had said this, the worry that Tsubasa had contained within herself for the past few years.

"MY SISTER KNEW YOU?! How? Who are you? What happened to my sister?"

"Calm yourself Mariko. Let her finish." After Ito had said this, Tsubasa calmed down enough to let Suko finish.

"I'm not actually from this time period, I was born on an island nation known as Japan."

"Japan… What one minute you don't mean?"

"Yes I was born on Earth back before its destruction. I was raised there for my entire life. One day I met a new person at school who had immigrated to this new land because his new guardians lived there. He became one of my greatest friends. We heard about a new project that was going on in a city just a few towns over. They wanted to start a pop group based on nightly performances. Together we auditioned, I was given a role as the center position, and my friend was given the job as head of security for both his weapons training and his knowledge of security technology. He later joined the group for a few concerts at the persistence of the other girls in the group. But then the war on Earth broke out and he joined the army at the bequest of the National Government. He was given a battalion of elite troops to help stop the war. He called them the 'Shinda Sekai Sensen.' They were the greatest defenders of the nation, but in order to stop the war and help everyone ascend to the stars." At this Tsubasa fell down as the weight of what the girl in front of her had said.

"Then you must be the first and eternal center nova Maeda Atsuko the first."

"That's right Mariko." Ito said in reply.

"But what is she doing here? How even did she even come here?"

"In order to stop the fighting I ascended into a realm known to Sensei Sensei and the forever stage. During the war, in order to give everyone enough of a hope to stop fighting, I evoked the power of Sensei Sensei before he was found. I was the first to enter the forever stage and give hope to those who live under the oppression of the entertainment ban."

"That still doesn't answer my question. How is she here?"

"I was returned to this realm by Sensei Sensei. My goal was to convince him to help you guys in the upcoming war that is to ensue. I am allowed to stay with him until the time that we both return to the forever stage."

"What now?" Asked a confused Tsubasa as she wondered why the first Acchan would be in front of her.

"Well we felt that it was time for the original AKB members to take the stage. But instead of just a takeover, Suko felt that we should take part of the audition and see how it has changed in the past few hundred years." Whatever Tsubasa had thought Ito would say, that was not it. Not fully comprehending the whole situation, all Tsubasa could do is just nod.

"After we finish the auditions though, I think both me and Suko would like to take over the training of the next generation. They have potential to be grand members of the group. You can also let the world know that we are back." When Ito had said this, the two original members left the room to go find the rest of the girls training for the final test.

After ten minutes of just walking around the ship aimlessly they happened upon the group coming back from changing. They were dressed in white sweat suits. When they say this Suko and Ito used the magic of Kiraras to change their outfits into workout clothes. Ito's outfit changed into a black sleeveless shirt with the word SUKO on the back in big, bold, pink letters while the logo for AKB48 was on the front in pink also. She also wore black yoga pants with her outfit.

Once they had returned to the group, the girls were surprised to see Ito and Suko joining them. Nagisa, being more or less the leader of the group, went up to Ito and asked them "Why are you guys here? I thought you were already a part of AKB0048."

"That is a simple question. I am here because my fiancé wants to go through the auditioning process again."

"Oh that is a simple wait what?" Nagisa said when what Ito had said registered. "How can she be your fiancé? I thought relationships were against the rules of AKB0048?"

"Normally that is the case. The rules of AKb0048 do say that the members can't engage in romantic acts with the opposite gender. But we have always been a special case, we have been dating for a long time and the continuation of our relationship was a stipulation for her to join the group." Replied Ito who wrapped one arm around Suko's waist.

While everyone was confused by what Ito said, Kojiharu introduced their first training session. The first session was just old school hand to hand combat training. To gauge their abilities they would each go one on one against a training robot. The girls, not knowing how to fight, were beaten easily by the robots. Nagisa, when she fought the robot, got spun around by her feet. During Ito's time training, he went up against the twenty robots they had, each one of which was taken down within 2 minutes. When Suko went up against three robots, she had defeated then within 5 minutes.

After everyone got over the shock of both Ito and Suko's easy victory, they began zero gravity training. To the rest of the girl, it was one of the hardest things they have ever done. But when the other girls saw Suko and Ito, it appeared as if they were dancing through the "air." Their movements were so graceful that it was unbelievable that they were in a zero gravity chamber. After the zero gravity training, they began to train with rifles. The only one from the hopefuls who succeeded at this was Chieri, but she was still excelled by both Suko and Ito.

Once all the training sessions had been completed, the girls were ushered back into the dance studio where they ended up collapsing onto the ground. A little while later Tsubasa came in and pulled up a holographic image of a planet.

"In ten days, AKB0048 will be holding a guerrilla concert on this planet. Meanwhile, you will train until you can protect the current successors without fail."

A tired and worried Makoto gathered up the courage to ask Tsubasa what everyone else in the room was wondering. "You mean we'll be battling at this concert?"

"You'll be bodyguards, no more. Similar to what Ito is for the entirety of the AKB0048 group, just not as good. If the enemy craft are manned, you are forbidden to use lethal force." Tsubasa said with a commanding tone. This was one of the guiding rules of AKB0048. Everyone took that for a sign that they should not argue. Well everyone except Ito.

"Can I kill them a tiny bit?" This shocked everyone. The single greatest rule of AKB0048 that they don't fight with violence, they fight with song. Suko was the only one that understood what Ito meant. If AKB0048, a small sliver of the original AKB48, is all that remains of AKB48, then his pact to protect the group at all cost still stands.

"Ito…" Tsubasa said in a normal tone of voice. "While I have no actual authority over you, I want to remind you exactly what will be going on." This confused the rest of the girls before Orine spoke up.

"Oh yeah, back then, the members had to fight didn't they?" Referring to the concert on Lancastar.

"You're telling us to do that?" Yuuka asked in shock and disbelief.

"No way, no way! That's totally impossible!" Said the ever worry filled Makoto.

"In that case, your journey ends here. If you intend to perform on planets where entertainment is banned, you must learn how to defend yourselves. That's right. This is no ordinary selection round. If you cannot surmount this challenge, then you'll only join 0048 at the cost of your life. 'Beginner' will be this performance's finale. You must guard the concert until the last note is sung. That is your selection round!" As Tsubasa said this, most of the girls in the group were losing more and more hope in this challenge, the exceptions being Chieri, Suzuko, Sonata, Makoto, Yuuka, Orine, and Nagisa. Ito and Suko were just off to the side not paying attention to the speech but instead on the girls in the audience. Ito, knowing that these girls were nervous, stood up to tell them his opinion.

"The original members each had five times the skill you had when they entered this group. If you want to achieve anything, surprise me. If you surprise me in the auditions then your shot at AKB0048 is not over at all." The girls all left the room with happy faces, on their way to the shower. While the hopefuls went to the shower room, Ito and Suko went to their own room with a private shower. Ito really didn't want Suko to accidentally get the rusty shower. He once tried to fix that rusty shower by invoking the old magiks of Earth, but it seems that the gods have left them.

After a nice hot shower, Ito and Suko walked over to the dining hall in their sleep wear which consisted of a fuzzy black robe, black silk shirts, and pink silk pants. When they sat down to eat, the two noticed how the different successors were handing out plates of juicy steak to each of the hopefuls. Each of the girls were complaining about the food in some way either it being too much food or the food not being good enough. Ito, being the hungry man he is, leaned over to Suko and said "Watch this."

Standing up and leaving a confused Suko, he walked over to Mayuyu and sat down across from her. "Hey Mayuyu." Ito interjected before she could eat a single bite causing Mayuyu to give him the evil eye. "Let's have an eating contest. First to finish 20 steaks wins?" Mayuyu pondered this as the rest of the successors were shocked. They knew that both Ito and Mayuyu had the biggest stomach of everyone in this half of the Universe. After what seemed like a minute, Mayuyu nodded causing the other successors to move 40 plates of steak in front of the two. To start the contest Takamina shouted "Three! Two! One!" When Suko said one, Ito and Mayuyu began to eat the steaks as fast as they could. When Mayuyu had finished her 8th steak, Ito had just started his 11th. Which didn't surprise the successors but did surprise the hopefuls.

"Done!" Ito shouted as he finished the last of the steaks while Mayuyu was still working on her 15th steak.

"Dang you Ito!" Mayuyu shouted as she entered combat mode and begun to chase Ito around the room.

After evading Mayuyu, Ito found Suko in their bedroom. "Ito…" Suko said with a glint in her eyes as if she wanted something. "Can we head over to the dance studio again?"

"Sure, let's go beautiful."

When the two arrived outside the dance studio, they saw Yuuka and Nagisa outside of the door.

"What are you two doing?" Ito asked while wondering why these two girls would be here at this late of an hour.

"We uhhh… we were following Chieri as she left but we kind of got lost." Nagisa replied. At this Ito face palmed. Right as he was about to respond, the group heard a voice shouting from inside the room.

"When will you get it right?" Ito took a quick look inside and saw Yuuko had turned off the music to chew out the successors. "This routine has a lot of quick changes, so you have to move more smoothly!"

"That was you entrance!" Takamina shouted back in rage.

"Are they fighting?" Yuuka asked a broken hearted Nagisa. Before Nagisa could respond, Takamina began shouting at the rest of the successors,

"Everyone pay attention! You're getting distracted! Don't forget, tomorrow's the real deal." Yukirin, noticing that Takamina was getting heated up, tried to calm her down.

"Calm down." Yuuko, not paying attention to Yukirin, grabbed Sayaka by the arm and said to her

"Like I said, you gotta…" Before she could continue, Nagisa shouted at all of them from the railing of the studio.

"Please, don't fight!" Realizing what she just did, Nagisa continued even though she was now thoroughly embarrassed. "Um, we're really sorry! Uh… I don't think… you should fight… Um right?"

'Wait! When did she run into the room?' Ito thought.

Suddenly, to Nagisa and Yuuka's surprise, all the successors, Suko, and Ito began laughing their heads off.

"'Please, don't fight,' she says… Sorry, did we scare you? Were always like this." Takamina said to the two hopefuls.

"Always?" Nagisa asked while being really confused.

"Yep. We let each other know what we think of each other and then correct our mistakes. That way, we can put on our best performance. Even if we hit a dead end," Takamina said as she began to sing and dance with the rest of the girls.

**Try again! Try again!**

**You'll figure it out somehow!**

With this new knowledge, Nagisa and Yuuka left to go back to their rooms leaving only the successors, Suko, and Ito in the room.

"Hello Ito!" Takamina and the rest of the girls greeted.

"Good evening girls, I would like to introduce you all here to my fiancé." Ito said with a grin as he pulled Suko into a one armed hug. When what Ito had said finally registered, they began freaking out.

"WHAT?!" At seeing the reactions of the girls, Ito began to laugh.

"Here let me do a formal introduction." Ito said as he let go of Suko and gestured to the successors.

"Suko, meet the current successors of AKB0048. Successors, meet my fiancé. The one who gave me my current name, the one who gave me part of her name, the one who gave me the courage to fight in the end war as a Shinda Sekai Sensen, the first artist to be raised into the stars, the first member of AKB48, the Eternal Center, Maeda Atsuko the first." With each phrase Ito said, Suko began to blush more and more. But when Ito said Suko's full name, the successors just stared in disbelief. Here, standing before them, was one of the original members of AKB48. But to Yuuko it was a different story, she was excited for before her is the ultimate Center Nova, the first, best, and greatest.

"How is she here?" Takamina asked Ito after what seemed like an hour.

"I was brought here by Sensei Sensei to bring Ito home." Suko said before Ito could say anything.

"What do you mean by that?" Yukurin asked Suko.

"That is a story for another time girls. You guys should head to bed and get ready for the annual concert on this planet." Ito said to the girls as he and Suko went back to their room.

On the day of the concert, Ito, Suko, the hopefuls, and all of the successors were down in the hanger of the Flying Get ready to go. The hopefuls wore tan jackets and pants that could easily be classified as camouflage. The successors wore the black, red, and white blazer skirt combination. Ito's outfit was his normal golden jacket with black pants, he also had two weapons on him, an assault rifle and a midnight black katana. Suko was wearing an outfit similar to Ito's, a blue and white sailor girl outfit with only a pistol and a bronze dagger that emitted an ethereal light even from its sheath.

As the group exited kirara drive, images o0f the venue began to appear on the wall of the hanger.

"And the doors are now open."

"Wow. There are so many people!"

"They're all here to see 00."

"That's right. They've all been waiting to see us, no matter what dangers they may face. To return their love, we have to put on our best performance! Let's give them all our love! Let's sing for them our love!" Takamina said to everyone in the room in hoping to put the fire in the eyes of the hopefuls.

As Ito surveyed the different girls, he saw that not a single girl had been able to develop the love of AKB in their eyes. Only those that entered the auditions with the heartfelt eyes still had it. Realizing that the number of girls in this generation was small, Ito gave a sigh. He didn't have much hope for the success of this new generation.

As the successors gathered around in a circle. Sayaka waved the girls over, inviting them all to join them. As the girls rushed over to the successors Ito and Suko remained on the side lines. Watching them as always.

"Here we go!" Takamina said as everyone linked their pinched index and thumb together to create a giant circular link including everyone with the exception of Ito and Suko.

"Ready, set… Always thankful, calm, kind, and just! Are you following your hearts? Yes sir! AKB0048!" The girls said together as a whole. As the girls turned to get on the shuttle to the protection detail zone, they heard the sound of a sword being drawn. They turned to see Ito with his katana held high in the air, following his lead Suko drew her dagger and held it so that it crossed with Ito's blade. At this Ito said eyeing his blade, "No God!"

At this Suko said in response "No Buddah!" The together with one voice they cried out "No Angel! Rebels against the God! Shinda Sekai Sensen!" When they said then last part, both Ito's blade and Suko's blade began to glow brighter than before which ended up temporarily blinding everyone in the room.

Not knowing how to respond everyone boarded the shuttle for their respective spots. While in the shuttle many of the girls became more frightened as they approached the ground. Nagisa on the other hand was wondering about the blades that Ito and Suko carried. Trying to take everyone's mind off of the approaching danger, she asked Ito and Suko

"Where did you two get those blades of yours?"

"I forged my blade back before the great war of destruction on Earth. Forged in the fires of Mt. Fuji herself, I named it Sachi, after and old friend of mine who died. Suko's dagger has more history to it. Her blade was a gift given by Paris to Helen of Sparta as a wedding gift. It was said that if you who was worthy looked into the dagger, they could see the future." At hearing this most of the girls were in shock at hold old both of the blades looked in contrast to how old they were. Both could be considered ancient. While the girls were still in shock, Ito opened a private channel between Suko, Tsubasa, and himself.

"Mariko, will the suites be unmanned or will they be manned?"

"Ito, the suits will be unmanned and don't enter combat at all. Once you step down and engage the suits, let the hopefuls fight against them."

"Ok. Mariko, if I find someone that you have rejected, I might take them in."

"Why Ito?" Tsubasa asked in confusion as to why Ito would accept someone she rejected.

"Because I feel that one of them may be worthy to take my place as leader of Class triple S when I ascend into the forever stage."

"Very well Ito, but you have to have a plausible reason for your choice." Once Tsubasa had said this, Ito cut the private channel between the three of them just as they were touching down. Once everyone exited the shuttle, Ito and Suko rushed out to the main look out position, which was far enough away from where Tsubasa said the first suit will land.

As the concert began, rain fell down on the hopefuls. Only Ito, Suko, and Chieri were unaffected by the sudden rain.

The concert went without a hitch until the final song began. That's when a warning appeared on Ito's and Suko's sun glasses, the enemy had arrived. Once the machines touched frown, they fired heavy rounds all over the place. Ito and Suko sat on the edge of the battle field in order to watch the girls fight.

After only five minutes all but the 7 girls that Ito and Suko had traveled and one other girl were left alive. This was surprising to Ito due to the amount of determination the girl had to protect the concert even though she didn't have the love of AKB0048 within her. The girl looked to be about 14 with hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair which was rather uncommon now a days. In all the years he has been alive, he had yet to see a girl without the hearts in their eyes becoming present. When he looked closer at the situation the girl was in, Ito became even more intrigued. The girl was up against a single machine but her assault rifle had run out of ammo.

From Ito's view, the girl was finished, but the girl had other plans. She calmed herself and remembered what her grandmother had told her just before she had left for the auditions.

*Flash Back*

_Standing at the train station surrounded by grass stood two figures, one with a luggage and one slightly taller carrying nothing except for a single rectangular package. Just before the younger of the figures began to board, she turned to the other and spoke._

_"__Well Grandma, I guess this is it. The next time you see me, I will be a member of AKB0048."_

_"__My grandchild, I know you have your hearts set on this so I won't stop you. What I will do instead is pass this on to you in hopes that we meet again." The grandma said as she handed the package to the younger girl. With confusion the girl opened it to reveal a silver rapier with a single word spelt on it in ancient language. _

_"__Grandma, what do these strange letters mean?" With a slight chuckle the grandmother replied,_

_"__My child those letters are written in an old language once used on Earth. It was called Futhark, the language of ancient warriors known as Vikings. They spell out the word Sachi, a name that meant strength when one was weak. The forger of this blade was known as a man named Maeda Ito, though no one ever referred to him by his last name from what I'm told. That rapier has been passed down from generation to generation ever since our ancestor received it from Ito during the War of Destruction. You have been trained to wield this blade so that you could eventually fight as our ancestor fought, the protection of the innocent."_

_"__Grandma isn't Sachi my name?"_

_"__Yes child, your mother named you Sachi in hopes that you would wield the blade in battle."_

_"__But I'm not going to be fighting, I'm going to be singing."_

_"__Oh don't be too sure about that, if you ever find that you are in a situation where you need to defend yourself, unsheathe the blade. You will know what to do from there now go and follow your dreams."_

_With that the two embraced in a final hug before Sachi boarded the shuttle to the auditions._

*Flash Back End*

Sachi, knowing that now would be a good time, unsheathed the blade hanging at her hips and ran at the machine and began thrusting at it with the might of a master rapier wielder. After hitting the machine a hundred times in a row, she gave one final leaping thrust and went straight through the machine and out the other side.

As she sheathed her blade, she ran to where the other hopefuls were, grabbing a rifle from a 'dead' body on the way. Ito's opinion after seeing Sachi fight the machine was elated. Now he could train a successor to the leader of the Shinda Sekai Sensen and be able to enter the forever stage after he finished.

"Oh well, we better join the fight now Suko." With those words, Ito and Suko jumped out of their hiding spot and began to open fire at the machines. With one hand, Suko pulled the pin and threw several grenades at the different machines. Out of the five that had landed, Ito and Suko were able to isolate three of them and subdued two of them with the barrage of grenades. Deciding to take the last one out, Ito charged forward and fired again but this time to the head of the machine. Once he was within five feet of the machine, he jumped and hit the mech over the head with the butt of the gun. This ended up breaking the rifle beyond repair but also KOed the mech.

"Ito! Stop breaking all of my stuff." Tsubasa shouted over the private channel. Right before Ito responded, he heard a saddened voice cry out.

"Chieri!" Ito turned and saw Nagisa crying over the 'dead' body of her friend Chieri. As Ito and Suko walked over hand in hand, Ito saw the paint on Chieri's jacket come off to reveal no injury.

"Paintballs?" A tired Nagisa asked aloud. Ito could see that Chieri was beginning to realize what was going on.

"Nagisa, are you alright?" Yuuka asked as she walked over with the remaining girls including Sachi.

"Yuuka! And Everyone Else!"

"You're alright?" As the girls embraced each other. They began to hear a slow clap coming from behind them. Fearing that it was more DES agents, they quickly turned around to see Tsubasa, Ito, and Suko standing next to the fallen machine.

"Excellent. Good Show, girls." Tsubasa said much to the confusion of the rest.

"Tsubasa-san? You act like it's nothing…" Much to everyone's surprise, Tsubasa started to giggle.

"The concert went off without a hitch. You all did well."

"The same goes for you." Ito said as he kicked the mech. To the surprise of the hopefuls, the mech suddenly turned purple and white.

"What?!" Exclaimed all the girls as the robot stood up now displaying the colors of AKB0048.

"Today you faced dummies designed to test you." Tsubasa said to the surviving hopefuls. "These aggressors were made from captured enemy craft. It was all a simulation. This planet is not under the Entertainment Ban. You've just begun your training. We couldn't put you in a real battle."

At these words, the girls dropped to the ground in a more relaxed state.

"I'm sure you've learned you lesson." Ito said as both he and Suko took off their excess guns. "Fighting with a weapon bring only hatred and pain. However despite that you stood you ground to protect the stage of your dreams." At this point Suko took over for Ito.

"And most important of all for 0048 members: you showed that no matter what, you would be there for your friends. Therefore, all of you girls have passed the selection round. All of you except for you three," Suko said as she pointed to Sachi, Nagisa, and Chieri. "Are now 77th generation understudies of AKB0048." At this all of the girls began cheering and jumping on each other, with the exception of the three girls who began to cry. Seeing this, Ito went up to them and lifted their chins up so that they were looking into each other's eyes.

"Let me tell you a story. Back before the destruction of Earth, the original members of AKB48 were led by Takahashi Minami and Maeda Atsuko. They led them both in spirit, song, and dances, but they also had help. A young man the same age as them helped to lead the group from behind the scenes. He protected them and essentially became an older brother to all of the members. Always there to protect them. Except for the last day of the Destruction War on Earth, the day that AKB48 ascended into the stars. In order to save as many people as possible, Maeda Atsuko called forth the kirara from the far corners of the galaxy and used their powers to stop the fighting. This cost her, her own life. The man she loved could only do one thing, so he made a deal with the kirara to ensure her survival at the cost of his ability to die. For generation after generation of understudies, he never took on another student. Only helping out the successors and generations lucky to have an heir to his beloved's name." During Ito's story, the girls were all enthralled by the tale. Nothing like this had ever been made known to them

"Nagisa. Chieri." Suko said, calling them out of their stupor.

"Yes." They both responded.

"You two may not be members of the 77th generation of understudies of AKB0048. But something even greater." At this, Suko clapped her hands together and two old world microphones, similar to what she used to use back when she was still on Earth. As she tossed the two microphones to Nagisa and Chieri, their clothing changed to that of a red and black blazer skirt combination that was similar to what the successors wore.

"What's going on?" Nagisa and Chieri shouted at they were in the outfit the successors wore.

"You two are now first generation understudies of Maeda Atsuko, eternal center and original member of AKB48." With those words Suko began glowing a vibrant pink as did the two girls. Now it was Ito's turn.

"Sachi, that blade you have, was a gift. Given to your ancestor during the Destruction War. Though you do not wield it as well as she did yet, you have greater potential that Alli ever did. With that I fear that you are too worthy to become a member of AKB0048. No offence Mariko." Ito said to Tsubasa who took no offence.

"Soon, I will be able to enter the forever stage and at that time I would like you to take my place as guardian. So will you become my apprentice?"

"It would be an honor to become the guardian." Sachi said in as proud a voice as she could muster. Once she said yes, Ito clapped his hands together and Sachi outfit changed into a blue, white, and feminine sailor suit similar to the one that Suko wore except that her left sleeve was completely gone. Now, there was the symbol of the Shinda Sekai Sensen on her arm.

"You are now one of the only people of AKB that can use weapons without breaking its code. You are officially Clark Sachi the first and last understudy of Maeda Ito, guardian and original member of AKB48. You will have all the same rights as a member of AKB48." With those words, Ito and Sachi began to glow a brilliant green glow. Sensing the approach of the Flying Get, Tsubasa spoke up.

"Now toss away those guns and pick up your microphones. Together, let's spread song through the entire galaxy!" Right as Tsubasa said galaxy, the Flying Get appeared right behind her with all of the successors shouting

"Congratulations!"


	5. Authors Note

**A/N Hey Everyone, sorry its taking me so long to get the next chapter written and refined. I have so much going on with school, sports, and church that I haven't been able to find time to get the next chapter written I hope to get it done by Easter. Please do not hate me because of this. This is my first actual fan fiction so please bear with me. Lunar Darkness signing off.**

**May the Power Protect You Always!**


	6. Chapter 3: Home Sweet Home

A/N: Hey everyone, I'm sorry for not updating sooner. With AP testing, regular testing, standardized testing, School in general, sports, and organizing several event, I kind of got swamped and because of that it took me a while but I finally finished the next chapter in this amazing series. So please review.

Chapter 5: Home Sweet Home

After the completion of the selection round, the new understudies as well as Ito and Suko, were taken back to the home world of AKB0048, Akibastar. In order to see was a nightly concert for AKb0048, Tsubasa took the understudies, Ito, and Suko to go watch a concert in the concert hall of AKB0048. As they entered the hall, Nagisa rushed forward dressed in her normal outfit.

"This is AKB0048's…"

"Exclusive Concert hall!"

"00 Stage."

"Wow. There are so many people!"

"A-are they all fans?"

"Sadly yes." Ito said sadly, shocking the understudies. "AKB0048 performs daily in order to keep with the ideals of the founders."

"Well not all of the ideals of the founders apparently." Suko said angrily. Knowing how angry Suko was, Ito quickly pulled her into a deep hug. This managed to calm her down a little bit.

"I know dearie, I'll build the stage again so that our understudies understand what the name AKB means." This managed to calm down Suko while confusing the three 1st generation understudies.

"Sir?" Sachi asked Ito since she was the bravest of the three 1st generation members. "Why is Lady Maeda upset?"

"Well that is not an easy question and you also don't have to refer to me as sir and you definitely don't need to refer to Suko as lady Maeda. Just call her Atsuko. You see, the original AKB48 stage was not nearly this big. It could only hold about 150 people and was not a concert hall. It was similar to a high school stage, with two pillars holding up the ceiling."

"But isn't it better to have more people to be able to sing our song to?" Chieri asked in confusion.

"Yes it is, but it also isn't. This is what we need to teach you all in order for you to truly be members of AKB48." Ito said with conviction in his voice. Suddenly the lights began to dim and a hush fell over the whole crowd.

"The show's about to start." Tsubasa said aloud.

Two figures, one dressed in a yellow dress and the other dressed in a green dress rushed onto the stage.

"Hello, everyone! We'll be opening for today's performance3!" The girl in yellow said. As the two girls struck a pose, the second girl said

"We're the 75th generation understudies!"

"The 75th generation understudies?" Nagisa questioned.

"Just the two of them?" Yuuka also asked.

"Listen to our song!" The girl in yellow said.

"The Lemon Season." The girl in green said.

"Ito! Ito! This was Mariko and My song. This sounds like it's going to be interesting." Suko said with a happier tone of voice than previous.

"You sang this song?" Questioned Nagisa.

"Nagisa, you will learn later." Ito said with a firm tone as the song began.

"The 75th generation is known as the 'Cursed Generation.' So many failed or quit. Only those two remain. Neither has been able to become a successor. It's been two years." Tsubasa informed the girls.

**Kyyousitsu no madobe wa hizashi no sunadokei**

**Anata wo matte iru jikan ga kage ni naru**

**GURAANDO wo hashiru YUNIFOOMU sugata wo**

**KAATEN ni kakurete setsunaku Nagameteta**

**Aoi remon hitotsu**

**Tenohira de tsutsunde**

**Agetai no**

**Sou watashi ni subete**

**Aoi remon sotto**

**Wakasugiru Kajitsu wa**

**Modokashii kono toshigoro**

Throughout the song, the understudies began to realize that the audience wasn't reacting to the song of the 75th generation. Unnoticed by the 77th generation, 1st generations, and Tsubasa, Ito was attempting to calm Suko who was shaking in anger.

'How dare she dance without love? She may have the image of an idol, but her actions say otherwise. Mariko and I put our love into each and every performance, but it looks like this girl holds no love anymore.' Suko thought as she shook in rage. At the same time Ito was getting angrier as Suko continued to stay angry. Their thoughts directed towards the girl in yellow.

'This girl is spitting on the memory of Mariko and is spitting in the face of Suko. For making Suko angry, she deserves the hate, but for spitting on the memory of past members, no wonder she is not a successor. As long as she continues like this I will ensure she doesn't become a successor.' Ito silently vowed to himself.

"Let's go Kanata! Kanata!" Sonata shouted enthusiastically, unaware of the sleeping dragon she was messing with.

"Quite you youngling, you don't know what you are doing. You only enrage Suko and me with you cheering." Ito snapped in anger while releasing a flair of his aura. The girl shut up immediately in fear of Ito's wrath. This shocked Tsubasa, for she had never seen Ito angered like this before. He might have been ticked off or a tad upset but never full on angry.

"Thank you all!" The two girls said much to the appreciation of Tsubasa. Any longer and Ito and Suko would have stormed onto the stage.

"AKB0048!" A deep voice said as the 75th generation ran off stage.

"Everybody, live like you've never seen. Are you ready?" As the voice talked, the entirety of the concert hall descended into what looked like a true concert. Lights came down from the ceiling. Music began to pump louder and louder filling everyone with adrenaline. The intro managed to lull Suko into a calmer state as the memories of her old performances flooded her. Suddenly the lights shown down on the successors 2who began to sing.

**1! 2! 3! 4!**

**I want you!**

**I need you! **

**I love you! **

**Atama no naka **

**Gangan natteru music **

**Heavy Rotation!**

*Time Skip*

After the concert, Suko had cheered up a tad bit but was still tiny bit upset. Ito on the other hand was still greatly angry for Suko. As they walked down the hall, Tsubasa tried to talk Ito out of doing what he was about to do.

"Mariko, let me first see her interaction with the girls. If she proves to be a true member of AKB then I won't put her on probation." Ito whispered to Tsubasa.

Tsubasa sighed with relief. She knew that Kanata was lacking the idol spirit and if Ito decided to take her out of AKB then she was powerless to stop him. How she is the successor of Yuko is beyond the comprehension of Tsubasa.

When they reached the dressing room Sonata rushing in and tackled Kanata.

"Sis-sis!" Sonata repeated over and over again.

"Ow… Sonata?!" The newly named Kanata exclaimed as she sa2w her younger sister.

"Is that Sonata's older sister?" Nagisa asked as all the girls went in while Ito stood right on the inside of the doorway.

"Oh my. Is that Kanata's little sister?" the girl in the green dress asked.

"You were super awesome on stage!" Sonata cheerfully told her sister.

"Sonata…" Kanata said as her eyes began to water.

'Yes!' Tsubasa thought happily.

"Sis-sis…" Sonata said as she was pushed off of her sister by Kanata.

"Gert off!" Kanata said rudely as she pushed Sonata off by shoving her face.

'Good luck Kanta! May Sensei Sensei and God have mercy on your soul.' Tsubasa thought in resignation silently sending up a prayer to God and Sensei Sensei.

"Tsubasa-san! What in the world is Sonata doing here?" Kanata asked.

"What do you mean?" Tsubasa replied.

"She doesn't meet the minimum age requirement. She should have been barred from the auditions." Kanata said looking pointedly at Sonata.

"Perhaps. Nonetheless, she came to attend the auditions. I accepted her determination." Tsubasa said bluntly.

"How could" Kanata began to ask before Sonata interrupted her.

"She's right! Sonata's totally determined! I wanna join you and"

"Go home." Kanata said flatly. "Go home, now! You're not supposed to be here!" She said raising her voice. She would have continued had a commanding voice not interrupted her.

"Enough." Ito said in a commanding tone. The rage clearly etched on his face.

"Tsubasa-san, what is a man doing in the changing room? Security! Security!" Kanata shouted surprised and a little confused that a man was in the dressing room.

"You dumb child! I am the head of the guards! 77th generation leave the room, now! Nagisa and Chieri stay. Sachi, pay attention. This shall be your first lesson. Protecting the honor of AKB48!" Ito said as the girls from the 77th generation ran out of the room as fast as their legs could carry them in hopes of escaping Ito's wrath. Nagisa and Chieri were frozen in fear at the angry beast that was Ito. Sachi on the other hand held no fear in her eyes, with the mark of the Shinda Sekai Sensen on her arm, she no longer could feel fear.

As soon as all of the girls from the 77th generation had left, Ito's aura of rage was released half way. Allowing waves of aura to roll off of him. "How dare you Kanata Shinonome! Your sister comes and tells you how she loved your disgraceful performance and you just push her away. Literally!"

"Who are you to judge me?" Kanata meekly replied, her anger outweighing her sense of fear for just a moment.

"I am Ito! I am the great Shinda Sekai Sensen. I was there when your ancestors took to the stars. I was there when Earth was being destroyed. I was there when AKB0048 took to the stars to bring peace. You were allowed to join AKB0048 because Mariko saw something in you. But what I see is a spoiled and childish brat who doesn't remember what love is anymore." Once Ito had said those words, he was able to calm down enough to reign in his radiance.

"Sachi. Come over here." Ito said with a gesture. Once Sachi had reached Ito he continued. "This is what we must do to preserve the honor of the original members. Shinonome Kanata, you held no radiance in tonight's performance. A performance originally done by the original Maeda Atsuko and Mariko. As representative of their memories in this time, I warn you officially Kanata that you need to watch your actions. There are certain actions and ideals that members of AKB0048 hold true. Ideals that you seem to lack."

Once Ito said this, Kanata began to protest but was drowned out by Ito's voice. "Until you find the true meaning of being an AKB0048 member. Until then, you and the rest of your generation shall not be performing on the stage. You shall join the 77th generation on their journey. Essentially you two will become members of the 77th generation in all but name. So mote it be." As Ito said this, the green aura that had been gathering around him burst forth like a dam that had been unlocked. The green light flooded the room. When the light had cleared up, the understudies were surprised to see Kanata knocked onto her back and unconscious.

Knowing that she couldn't undo what Ito had done, Tsubasa said "To paraphrase what Ito just said, only Sonata can decide what to do with her own life. You may have been different generations, but you are all equally understudies. So you will practice together as if there was no distinction between the 75th and the 77th generation. As you all probably guessed, the girl that is lying unconscious on the floor is Shinome Kanata." As she said the last part she gestured to the girl lying on the ground.

"The other girl is Kishida mimori." Tsubasa said as she gestured to the pink haired girl wearing a pale blue dress. Taking this as her cue, Mimori turned to the new understudies as said "Hello! I'm Mimori. It's a pleasure to meet you." As she said this she performed a deep curtsey. Not remembering that she had been in the process of changing. So when as she bowed down her upper part of her dress fell to reveal her voluptuous assets to the younger girls. Lucky for Ito he was standing behind her because he had seen Mimori's assets, Suko would make him sleep on the couch for weeks.

Once Mimori noticed her falling dress she quickly grabbed it to stop it from falling off of her completely. "Oh, please excuse me." Mimori said, embarrassed that she had exposed herself to younger girls.

"Please to meet you." The 77th and 1st generation said, flustered that they had seen their senpai's assets.

"Please, just relax! I hope we get along." Mimori said as her and Tsubasa led the 77th generation out of the door. Before the 1st generation could leave the room Ito called out and told them to carry the now unconscious Kanata with them to the dorms.

*Time Skip*

The girl's first reaction to the dorms was that it was huge and old. The mansion, styled in a very Victorian way, had been there since AKB came to Akibastar and it showed. The Mansion had been remodeled and fixed over the years and had several parts of the building made out of metal while some areas still had scaffolding around them. Though it looked like it was a little worn out it stood as a testament to AKB0048. That even after all these years, parts may change and some may still be built but even still it was still standing strong, as is AKB0048.

"Here we have the 00 dormitory where we reside." Mimori said to the girls as they entered through the foyer. The understudies looked around in amazement at how extraordinary the whole place was. "Let me give you the grand tour." Mimori told the understudies, Suko and Ito as they took off their shoes. Mimori led them into a room with several tables, a kitchen, a buffet table, a booth table, and portraits of past members lining the wall.

"This is the dining hall. Chef Papa's cooking is exquisite." As Mimori said this, the man behind the counter turned around to reveal a young looking chef carrying a pot. "Are theses the new girls? I'm going to prepare a special dinner to welcome you. Save your appetites!" The man behind the counter told the understudies.

"Eh Papa, is that you?" Ito asked the man behind the counter. Surprised to see Ito, Chef Papa set down the pot he was holding and walked around the counter and embraced Ito with a traditional male hug. As the two broke the hug, Chef Papa grabbed Ito by the shoulders in a noncreepy way.

"Ito! You're back huh? This calls for an even grander meal for welcome you back." Chef Papa said to Ito. At the news that it was going to be a grand feast, Mimori's mouth began to water before shaking her head and setting her mind back in place.

"It was good seeing you again Papa. I'm looking for to this dinner." Said Ito as Mimori led them to another part of the mansion. They stopped at a room with hard wood floors, a mirror the size of one of the walls, a upright piano, and two windows that let the evening glow enter into the room.

"We have plenty of practice rooms, too."

Next Mimori took them to a room that looked like an indoor bath. On one side of the room there were stools, soap, and buckets that stood in front of a mirror and facet. In the center of the room was a nice sized circular pool that practically steamed showing it heat.

"You can was your sweat in the bath." Suko hearing this looked at Ito confused as to whether he also would bathe here or if he had a separate place. Seeing the confusion and almost accusatory glare coming from Suko, Ito leaned over and whispered

"We have a private bathroom and shower in our room." Nodding in understanding the two followed the rest of the group to the next room. This room had a book shelf off to one side of the room, a couple of couches surrounding a coffee table, three chairs facing out the window at the amazing view of the rest of Akibastar. On the other side of the room was a little stair way leading to a round booth table in the far corner away from most of the room. "Here you can have a chat over a light snack. Please, enjoy yourselves!" As Mimori said this the understudies finally found their voice.

"This place is so beautiful!" Nagisa said in admiration of the room.

"It's a far cry from the Katyusha!" Yuuka agreed. Seeing that there was no reason to be timid, Makoto rushed forward into the room and began to jump in excitement.

"Just look at it sparkle! I can smell the Eau de idol!" She said as she sniffed the air.

"Eau de what?" Yuuka asked.

"You've never heard of it? The scent that lingers where cute girls gather. Its sweet smell is irresistible" Makoto said enlightening everyone to what she knows.

"What peculiar tastes." Nagisa said.

"Ok you guys." Ito said breaking up the conversation before it could get weird. "Let's get to bunking assignments." Taking that as a hint, Kanata took the group of understudies to the wing of the house that had rooms.

"Let's see. . ." Kanata said looking over a list that she picked up from Tsubasa-san that had the bunking arrangements. "In room one; Makoto, Yuuka, and Orine." Then in a deadpan voice, Kanata said "And also Sonata. This is your room." Opening the door to reveal two bunk beds on the side with a balcony window on the far side. Their possessions had already been brought up and were set in a corner of the room.

After the door was opened, Makoto ad Yuuka rushed into the room excited to explore their new world.

"This room is adorable!" Orine said as she stood in the doorway taking in her room for the next few years. "It's lovely!"

"Your lessons start tomorrow. Once you finish dinner, get an early night." Kanata told the girls in the room.

"Okay!" Was the reply.

"Hey, sis-sis?" Sonata said to her sister in a timid yet slightly excited voice from right next to Kanata. "You know, Sonata just wanted to be with . . ." Knowing what Sonata was going to ask, Kanata walked out of the room while closing the door not even allowing Sonata to finish her question.

The rest of the understudies, Ito and Suko were two rooms down the hall. "This is your room; Chieri-san, Nagisa-san, Suzuko-san, and Sachi-san, you'll be living in here." Orine told the girls as she opened up the window at the end of the room.

"Okay"

"Your bags have been brought up, so make sure everything's there." Orine told them, as a result Chieri, Suzuko, and Sachi began to go through their bags to make sure they have everything.

'A new room.' Nagisa thought as she walked to the balcony. 'A new me. Everything starts here!'

Looking up from her bag, Sachi saw Nagisa's back aglow with light from the evening sun. Standing up she grabbed her rapier and set it up against the bottom bunk on the left side of the room. 'Finally, I am here Grandmother. I found the SSS, my past was beautiful but now. Now I look must look for the future.'

Suzuko seeing that people were grabbing bunks, place her autographed soda can from Sonata on a stool next to the bottom bunk on the right side of the room. Chieri on the other hand had placed her gear on the bunk above Sachi.

Mimori, seeing all these girls getting their gear together, gazed at the dresser next to hear and remembered the faces of all of her past friends who had left the 75th generation due to various reasons. Not wanting the same thing to happen to them, Mimori decided to wish the girls luck in her own special way. "Well, do your best, girls! It's time to hustle" As she said hustle, Mimori began to do a little side to side dance.

"Okay! Hustle!" Nagisa said imitating the same dance that Mimori did.

"Hustle?" Suzuko and Chieri said half-heartedly while only doing a slight fist pump. Seeing the lack of enthusiasm Sachi imitated the dance enthusiastically.

While the girls were settling into their respective rooms, Ito took Suko up to their room in the attic. This room wasn't just a cramped room with a low ceiling. It was a very large room with a high roof as if the ceiling of the top floor was knocked out for this room. AS they entered the room, Ito saw that everything in the room was very white, the walls the dressers, the floor, even the window curtains that lead to a balcony were white. The only thing that wasn't white was the purple bed with a green lining in the center of the room. Off to the side was a door that led to a bathroom that had a shower and bath bigger than that of the regular bath for the members.

"Ito this room is amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it Suko." Ito said in reply. Ito changed his clothes from his Shinda Sekai Sensen garb into simple fleece pants and a tank top. Suko, taking Ito's advice, changed into purple fleece pants and a black tank top as well.

After the two of them had gotten settled in and changed into their pajamas, they went downstairs for the dinner service. The two overheard a conversation between Suzuko, Nagisa, Yuuka, and Orine in front of the center novae portraits.

"Portraits of past centers." Suzuko said.

"Centers?" Yuuka asked confused as to what she means by centers.

"What are those?" Nagisa asked also confused. Seeing that all of these girls were confused beside Suzuko, Ito decided to step in and explain.

"Currently AKB0048 currently has a different center for each song." The girls turned to look at him as he walked up to their group. Listening intently the understudies allowed him to continue. "But ever since the beginning, one person took the center position and led the group in song. Outside of the stage however, the captain was the leader in regards to everything besides the actual performance. Suko was the original center and because of her unforgettable aura, after her death she was called the Eternal Center." Here Suzuko cut in to the conversation.

"The last to hold the center position was Acchan the 13th. However, after she graduated, the position was done away with."

"I remember Acchan the 13th!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"She was at the concert we saw when we were young." Agreed Orine.

"She was incredible." Yuuka added. Here Suzuko continued with her tale.

"Before Acchan the 13th was Mii-chan the 5th. Before her, Yuihan the 6th. And before her, Yuuko the 9th. All of them held the center position."

"Wow. There's such a long history." Nagisa said in wonder. "But why does the center position not exist anymore?"

At this, Yuuko decided to make herself known to everyone by dropping a hand onto Nagisa's shoulder.

"That's what I wanna know." She said in exasperation. Surprised by the sudden appearance by Yuuko, Nagisa jumped away and turned around in order to see her.

"Yuuko-san?" Orine asked.

"Yo!"

"Yuuko could you please stop scaring the new kids." Ito said with a heavy sigh.

"Just wait. I'll bring back the center position myself!" Yuuko said ignoring Ito completely.

"I won't be satisfied with where I stand now!" Yuuko said with conviction as she pointed into the air. "You gotta keep striving to reach the next level!" After she said this she hit each of the girls hard on the back. When she tried to hit Ito, Ito instead hit her on the back with enough force to be felt but not actually hurt her.

"All right! Let's do this!" Yuuko said as she began to walk away before the two could fight.

After dinner as everyone was heading back up to their rooms, Ito and Suuko were walking again with Nagisa, Orine, and Yuuka. "We may be understudies now, but there's still the next level. Once we're successors, there's still the next level! The next levels never end! It's so exciting, right?"

"Yeah." Orine agreed.

"Definitely" Yuuka said with a thumb raised.

"Um Nagisa." Suko said getting the attention of Nagisa. "You know you will never be a successor."

"What?" Nagisa said in reply.

"Well you are not a part of AKB0048. You are an understudy of AKB48 so you don't have to take up a name and live as a legacy, you get to pave your own legacy." Ito said letting that sink in for a minute but right before Nagisa could respond they heard a voice from the floor above.

"No way! No way! No way!" As the group continued up the stairway as they saw Sonata talking with Mimori and Kanata. "I am not going home!"

"Don't be so immature!" Kanata said raising her hand as if to smack Sonata.

"Stop Kanata! You know that you are on probation." Mimori said in a worried voice to Kanata. Kanata calmed down a little bit before turning back to Sonata.

"I can't believe you lied to get into 00."

"Well you lied too!" Sonata said in an upset tone on the verge of crying. This caused Kanata to riel back at the anger growing in her sister. Seeing that she had made some headway, Sonata's anger began to outweigh her upset nature.

"You joined 0048, but you're still not a successor!" Seeing that that this is what was upsetting her, Kanata's anger began to subside. But Sonata's was still growing. "You're a liar! You're an uglyface!" As Sonata began to hurl insults at Kanata, she began to make ugly faces at her by stretching parts of her face with her finger including stretching the top of her head and stretching her mouth. After she said that Sonata jumped onto the side rail of the stairs narrowly missing the group. Kanata after landing on the landing continued to run away from her sister.

The understudies in the area were confused as to whether they should ignore the problem or if they should follow Sonata. Suko looked over to Ito, worried that he might do something drastic to Kanata. But to her surprise, Ito didn't looked fazed by what Kanata said or by Sonata's reaction. Ito continued up the stairs, past Kanata and Mimori, and up to his room followed by Suko. Once the Suko had closed the door behind the two, she went up behind Ito and gave him a deep hug.

"Why did you just ignore what Kanata said? I know that you care for each member of this group as if you were their relative. So why did you allow Kanata to say that to Sonata." Suko said with a sad expression.

"Exactly Suko!" Ito turned around and held her within his embrace. As they stood there Ito continued to explain her his reasoning. "I see them as family to me. Each of the girls are like a daughter to me and I hate to see them argue like Kanata and Sonata do. But even among siblings, fighting is sure to happen. The best way for it to be resolved is if the two settle the differences between them otherwise nothing good will come out of it." At this the two pulled away slightly so that they could look into each other's eyes.

"So you want them to figure this stuff out for themselves."

"It is the only way possible for the future that we need to come into fruition. The one that Sensei Sensei believes is the best path for the world." Ito said calmly to Suko. At this both of them decided that it would be best to go to sleep and so they fell on top of the bed and fell fast asleep.

At the same time Kanata and Mimori were finishing their routine for bed. As Kanata fell onto her bed in her PJ's she exclaimed "I'm exhausted . . ." Mimori on the other hand was doing a little bit of yoga in her Pajamas before she went to bed.

"You haven't seen your sister in years. Aren't you being a bit insensitive?" Mimori asked Kanata in a concerned tone of voice.

"She doesn't know a thing." Kanata told her in a saddened voice. "How hard the practice is. How little you're rewarded for your pain. I don't want her to feel as frustrated and pathetic as I do right now."

"Oh, don't be a worrywart." Mimori said, stopping her yoga. "Just think. We're the 75th generation-the Cursed Generation. Maybe your sister will shoot right up the ranks to successor." Trying to cheer Kanata up with her happy tone of voice.

"But we are only 75th in name alone, in all aspects we are 77th generation Mimori." Kanata told Mimori in an almost angry tone while sitting up. "How can you just shrug it off like that? It's been two years already!" Then in an almost depressed tone she said "Everyone else from our generation quit. We've practiced with all we've got. We've even studied the original members. But none of that made us successors. To become a successor-"

"You need the soul of an idol, right?" Mimori interrupted before Kanata could begin to cry.

"I get it. Neither personality nor skill will earn me the name of an original member. But I'll never have my revenge on them at this rate!" Kanata said with conviction in her eyes looking up towards Mimori.

"Our father was the leader of a pro-entertainment coalition. I always sang, so I could see my father smile. But in a battle with DES forces, he . . ." Kanata told as if she were recounting a story she was told over and over again.

"I joined 00 so I could fight DES. So that's why . . . That's why Ito said I don't have the right ideals for an idol because I wish. That's why I don't want Sonata to walk the same path as me . . . To face this pain and danger."

"But don't you like to sing?" Mimori said as she knelt down in front of Kanata.

"Have you even been listening?" Kanata said as she angrily stood up. "I couldn't care less about singing!"

"But I do." Mimori said in a calm voice while she also stood up "I like your singing."

"It doesn't matter is anyone likes it!" Kanata said before she began to walk out the room. "I need to avenge my father. That's why I'm going to become a successor, perform on the front lines, and fight against the DES."

*Time Skip*

The next day was the first day of lessons for the 77th and first generations, so Ito and Suko got up early and were ready to leave by the time the other girls got out of bed. Once everyone was ready to go, the understudies, Suko, and Ito went by train to the main dance studio at the AKB0048 theatre. While on the train many of the girls were ready for the excitement that was training.

"Finally! Dance lessons!" Makoto exclaimed to the rest of the girls who were sitting down on the bench. The only other girl not sitting down was Kanata who stood on the other side of the train from the understudies. Suko and Ito were standing right next to the group of girls on the train. "Say goodbye to the toils of combat training!" Even going as far as to give a mock salute to Ito who just laughed.

"Just wait until I teach you the art of dance combat Makoto." At this point everyone else laughed except for Makoto who began to pale and Kanata who was not paying attention to the group. "Time to dance our hearts out!" Makoto exclaimed as they walked off of the train and into the dance hall. The dance studio at the 0048 theatre was quite similar to the one found on the Flying Get with the exception that there were better air conditioners in this studio.

Right after the girls had finished getting changed, they were taught the basic moves by the dance instructor and were then told to perform the dance to Kibou ni Tsuite. Kanata and Mimori acted as the seniors and were told to perform at the front so everyone could match their speed ad intensity. After a few hours of practice the 77th and the 1st generation girls still had not grasped the dance for the song. While they were performing, Ito, Suko, and the Instructor would give critics to the dancers while they danced. Eventually the Instructor had seen enough and called for a stop mid song. "That's enough."

"I'm dying, I'm really dying!" Yuuka said as she collapsed to the ground.

"This is not better than combat training. In fact, it's worse." Makoto said as she also collapsed.

"Did you say something?" The instructor asked in a stern voice.

"No! Nothing at all!" Makoto and Yuuka said in unison.

"You! The little one." He said pointing at Sonata. "Have you memorized the song?"

Finding some form a strength, Sonata began to freak out saying "Don't call me little!"

"That's why I told her." Kanata said with a sigh under her breath.

"I swear, you girls…" The instructor mumbled as Tsubasa walked into the room to stand by Ito and Suko.

As the girls tried the song again, they got stopped earlier by the Instructor.

"No, no, no, no, no! You're all over the place. Especially you Kanata." The instructor said to the surprise of everyone. "There's not a spark of life in your dancing today!" Kanata tried to protest but she just got ignored. "These girls from the 77th generation have just begun their training. They're still wellsprings of potential. You've had two years of lessons but just look at you." With that, the Instructor hit a cord with Kanata. In the background you could hear the disbelief from the other understudies.

"What was your name again? Chieri?" The instructor asked pointing to Chieri.

"Yes?"

"You come up front. Switch places with Kanata."

"Hang on! Why is the new girl upstaging me?" Kanata asked the instructor.

"I'm just trying to keep it balanced. Besides, if you have no motivation, you have no right to speak." Ito looked to his left and saw Suko was nodding along with the Instructors idea of motivation being the most important.

"I can't do that." Chieri said to the Instructor's surprise. "I haven't mastered the choreography yet. Please let me stay here to observe the older members. I only joined recently. There's still a lot I don't understand. I'm counting on the more experienced girls to set a good example." After Chieri had finished saying this Kanata began to cry and ran out of the rehearsal. Mimori ran after her. Many of the understudies gathered around Chieri and began to say what she did was wrong.

"Hey now."

"You went too far! Way too far!"

"My sis-sis is amazing!" Sonata said with an angry voice. "She's the best at everything! At singing, and dancing… So how come… Your nick name is now officially Meanyface!" Sonata shouted at Chieri.

"Okay practice is over for now since those two ran off."

Chieri went off to the bathroom room to go throw some water on her face, Nagisa followed after here, as did Suko.

"I think what you did was wrong." Nagisa said to Chieri. "Kanata-san's been working super hard! But you…"

"I know" Chieri interrupted. "I can tell just by looking at her. Her dancing and singing is probably on par with the successors. Better, even. It takes a lot of effort to get that good. But there are some things you can only be born with. There's a radiance that no amount of effort will earn you. The radiance of an idol."

"That is true yet wrong at the same time Chieri." Suko said as she walked into the bathroom. "An idol's radiance cannot be earned that is completely true. But the power of an Idol's Aura, a power just as great that can only be achieved by those who know how to develop it." As she said this Suko left and Yuuka came in.

"Nagia, we're going to look for Kanata-san." Yuuka said before she noticed Chieri. "What did you do to Kanata?"

"She didn't do anything. Let's go." Nagisa said leading Yuuka out of the restroom.

*Time Skip*

Down by the river, Kanata was crying and talking to herself.

'What's the big deal? The singing and dancing… All I care about is avenging my father. So why? Why does it frustrate me so much?

**Some days I just can't dance**

**So I go home crying.**

**Some days, I just can't sing, **

**So I lose faith in myself.**

**My rivals always seem to glow so much brighter than me.**

As Kanata began to sing, Mimori decided to join in.

**Our sweat carries our dreams,**

**Which bloom slowly like a flower.**

**I swear that I won't let down their efforts.**

"Stop it." Kanata told Mimori trying to stop the singing. "If you keep singing…"

**Our sweat carries our dreams,**

**Which lie budding, in wait, **

"Stop!"

**Until the day our wishes blossom. **

"You'll make me start liking it. You'll make me start to like singing!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Mimori asked as she sat down next to Kanata. "You're free to like it. The more you like it… The more you love, the better! After all, AKB0048 are the idols who come to see you. They're the idols who sing their love."

"Mimori." Kanata said starting to understand a bit more about what an idol means. Grabbing Kanata's hand Mimori stood up and continued to sing the song.

**Some days I give up**

**On balancing school and lessons.**

Kanata began to join in along with her best friend.

**But then I hear an encore**

**Sounding in the distance.**

**Our dreams lie beyond our tears.**

**They're the smile that blooms after we've cried.**

**They're the buds that worked so hard to bloom.**

**Our dreams…**

As they were singing, a single word interrupted their song. "Kanata!" Sonata screamed. "Kanata! Kanata!" Sonata began to chant/scream. As the two girls looked over to where they heard the noise coming from, they saw all of the 77th generation girls, Sachi, Nagisa, Ito, and Suko.

"Sonata." Kanata exclaimed.

"That's impressive. You're not a successor yet, but you've already got a diehard fan." Mimori said to Kanata. "Go on, Kanata."

"Come on, Sonata! The rest of you too."

"Okay!"

As the girls were running down to Kanata and Mimori. Ito wrapped one arm around Suko.

"You knew something like would be the outcome. Didn't you?" Suko asked Ito

As the girls began to sing, Ito looked to the song and said. "I knew that family will prevail over all. It may not have been the way I expected but the outcome is the same. The siblings are back together, as they should be." With a depressed gaze he looked down.

**Our sweat carries our dreams **

**Which bloom slowly like a flower.**

**I swear that I won't**

**Let down their efforts.**

**Our sweat carries our dreams,**

**Which lie budding, in wait, **

**Until the day**

**Our wishes blossom.**

"Ito, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that they would betray you. Betray the nation we loved. Betrayed everyone. You couldn't know that the ones who started the Earth ending war was..."

"My Family."


	7. Chapter 4: The Day of Rest

**AN: I must deeply and honestly apologize to all of my readers. I have been working hard these past few months on homework, projects and other necessary items for graduation. It may sound like I am giving excuses and for that I am sorry. But I am glad to inform you that this chapter is over and thank goodness for that. It is one of my longest chapters to date and I hope that makes up a bit for its lateness. As always, I hope that you would review, comment, or message me with any ideas, comments, concerns, or just to chat. I do not own AKB0048, or anything that you recognize. Enjoy.**

It was like any other morning in the AKB0048 dormitory. The understudies were bustling around the place trying to get ready for the new day of training from brushing their teeth to putting on their make up for the day. The loud amount of noise coming from the understudies didn't reach the ears of Ito and Suko as they lay resting in their bed. Suko, who lay to one side of the bed, was sleeping peacefully and dreaming dreams of the original AKB48 and the wonderful times they had. Ito, on the other hand, was dreaming of the day he first entered the war of the world.

*Flashback*

_In the midst of the night, a young boy sat looking out the window of a hospital in the middle of downtown Seattle. Outside the window all the boy could see was the fire raining down upon the city of Seattle. Planes flew overhead dropping bombs, civilians were running around screaming, crying, and dying. He could see that the destruction could take decades to fix and even then the once glittering Emerald City would never be what it once was. He saw a woman running with a child in her arms only to get hit by shrapnel from a bomb and thrown forward. _

_This boy wore a light blue shirt with jeans and a zip up vest that was left unzipped. He turned to look away from the window in respect for the woman and instead cast his gaze across the nearly empty room he inhabited. After the he was taken to the hospital, after the war began, no one seemed to remember that he was still there except for one nurse who would bring him food. _

_Suddenly the door on the opposite side of the room opened up, flooding the room with light. An elderly man with white long hair and beard came into the room and the light followed him as if he were the source of the light. He was dressed in a black suit that seemed out of place on this man, but what really stood out was his eyes. Eyes that looked as if they had seen many grand and terrible things, weary of the life that he had seen unfold in the world. The man continued to cross the room until he came to a stop in front of the young boy._

_"__Hello, young one. I know you regret the pain that your family has put you through with this war. I see the reason that you blame them the most." _

_At this, the boy looked at the figure with an angry glare._

_"__How can you know? They were the one that started this war! All the pain, all the fires, all the death…" As the young boy said the last part his voice softened. Turning to look at the only bed in the room, the boy stopped talking in order to just stare at the bed, remembering the person who had lain that bed not even a week ago. The man also turned to look at the bed, nodding his head in respect he turned back to the boy._

_"__One special to me died a while ago as well. She wished for a world of peace. Which comes to why I am here." The old man said as the boy turned to look at the man. The man took a card out of his pocket and handed it to the boy._

_Jephro-Vath Liam_

_Japanese Self-Defense Force_

_"__Are you really a member of the defense force?" the young boy asked the man._

_"__I am. I am one of the highest members of the JDF and I believe you know what I am here for?"_

_"__You're here to take me in." At this the old man began to laugh._

_"__No I am here to invite you, to join a new division of our group. One that will help you bring peace to your friend." At this, the young boy sat in silence, looking at the card in his hand. After about 5 minutes the young boy began to shake his head._

_"__I can't bring peace to my friend. She is already at peace. But if you can help me to realize her dream then I will follow you."_

_The old man stopped and asked "What was her dream?" Ito only uttered a single word in response,_

_"__Peace."_

_"__I assure you," The old man said as he offered a hand to the young boy. "We will do everything you can to make her dream come true." _

_The young boy took the outstretched hand and hopped off the seat by the window. Together the two of them walked out the door closing the door behind them. Leaving the room to the mercy of the darkness. _

_*Flash back End*_

Waking up slowly from his dream, Ito opened his eyes and begun to stare at the ceiling in confusion. For Ito this was the first time since he left Earth that he dreamt about his dark past. Feeling a weight on his right arm he looked over to see the love of his life laying down next to him.

"Wake up Suko. It's time for a brand new day." Ito told her as he gently shook Suko awake. As Suko gently swayed back and forth, she finally began to stir.

"Good morning!" Suko said after she stretched her arms, curling back into Ito's arm. Ito smiled and tucked a lock of hair that had fallen in front of Suko's face behind her ear. The only response that came was a light chuckle from Suko.

"Come on we have to get up."

"Fine." Suko said as she got up and changed clothes to a casual black sundress with pink accents and a white shawl. Ito realizing that Suko had finally gotten up from his arm, decided that he also had to get up. Ito then changed into black combat pants, a forest green tank-top, and a black vest with pink accents.

Seeing that both of them were ready Ito held out his hand to which Suko grabbed and intertwined her fingers with his own. Together the two of them left the room and went down the stairs to the first floor only to meet Mayuyu in the dining hall, glaring at Chef Papa.

"Mayuyu! Why are you glaring at Papa?" Mayuyu, with her aura beginning to manifest around her, turned to Ito.

"Extra helpings. I only had 5." At this Ito faced palmed with his free hand.

"Papa can you make some food for the three of us real quick." Ito asked in a slightly hurried but calm voice.

"Right away!" Chef Papa agreed as he quickly set to work cooking another few round of food for the group of people. As he was cooking, the three people sat down at a table and talked about the current understudies.

"Besides them stealing my extra helpings, I see some potential in them." Mayuyu said.

Too many, that compliment wouldn't seem too big, just that the understudies had potential. But to Suko and Ito who knew what the understudies had potential to do, it was a relief. Mayuyu was programmed to have the heart and personality of the original Mayu Watanabe and the hope that came with that personality.

"Here you go you guys." Chef Papa said as he sent a single plate of food in front of Ito and Suko. In front of Mayuyu the Chef put down three heaping bowls of rice and food.

After the group had finished eating their food. Ito and Suko bid Mayuyu a farewell and began to walk to the front door with interlocked arms. As they neared the rehearsal studio, they saw the understudies in their work out gear standing right near the studio.

"What are you guys doing?" Ito called out to them as they approached. Surprised that no one was in the room the understudies turned to greet them. As Ito was about to continue, Tsubasa showed up and began to speak with the girls.

"You don't have lessons today. It's your monthly recreational day. This applies to both you and the successors." At this Kanata face palmed as she had completely forgotten that it was that time of the month. The other girls however were confused.

"What?" Mimori also forgetting that began to avoid looking at the other understudies.

"Then let's practice on our own!" Yuuka said in excitement trying to figure out what to do.

"Good idea!" Nagisa said in agreement with Yuuka.

"I like that! Nice Idea!" Sonata said adding her input. Before the group could become more rambunctious, Ito stepped in adding his two cents to the situation.

"Are you guys sure about that?"

"What do you mean Master?" Sachi said in confusion. 'Why would he not wish for us to practice our dancing skill?'

"Your lives are literally scheduled down to the minute for most days. Due to this time management and use is a key part of your life. Making the most out of your free time greatly impacts your future, days off give you time to relax before more work. With that Suko and I are going out for a while." As he began to walk away, Sachi walked forward towards Ito and knelt down on one knee with her head bowed.

"Master, would you please teach me how to use this rapier in a way that brings honor to my ancestor? I know only the basics of how to use it but beyond that I know not how to wield it with grace and honor."

Ito realizing what Sachi was trying to ask faced palmed at her extreme formality. As she finished Ito with his hand cradling his face continued in response.

"Sachi, please don't call me master. Your ancestor was like an older sister to me. If you have to give me a title call me uncle. I can try to help you with some techniques that your ancestor taught me. If you ask me another day I may find some of the scrolls that your ancestor left me but I was unable to learn. Anyway I'll work with you this morning but only in the morning as I do actually have plans for tonight. Suko, you don't mind if I help train her do you?"

As Ito expected, Suko was okay with him teaching Sachi. What he didn't expect was her insisting that she comes along with in order to ensure that he didn't run Sachi into the ground on her day off. With that Ito led the two girls to a special room that he designed when the mansion was initially build.

When he opened the door, the girls were shocked to see what was inside. Inside the room was a large track like one would see people running around on. Within the area surrounded by the track was a ring of wooden warriors holding wooden swords and wooden shields. On the far side of the room was a giant curved almost warped like wall that stood roughly 15 feet high. The lights where bright enough to simulate actual sun light.

"What is this place uncle?" Sachi said in amazing not even caring in the least what she called Ito. Suko couldn't blame here she was even surprised as to layout of the area.

"This is an exact replica of my first training arena." Ito said as if he was about to remember something but then shakes his head getting back to the present before a flashback could occur.

"Ok. First things first I'm going to have you run several laps around the room for a warm up. After that we will start on some basic forms that your ancestor taught me. Is that ok?" Ito asked Sachi.

"Sure let's get started." As she said this Sachi moved to take off her rapier that hung at her side. Before she could, Ito stopped her.

"No don't take off your blade. Your blade is an extension of yourself. You wouldn't run without your legs or your arms as that would be weird. If you train yourself to always carry your sword at hand, all your movements will become natural and you won't even realize that's there most of the time." Hearing this, Sachi fastened her rapier to her side and begun running laps.

After a half hour of laps, Ito told Sachi to stop. As Sachi walked over to Ito in the center of the encirclement of warriors she noticed that Ito was still holding a Katana.

"Next I want you to do, 100 horizontal strikes and 100 vertical strikes."

"Yes Uncle!" Sachi said and began to do as Ito told. Once she was done, she turned to Ito and awaited his next instructions.

"Ok, let's get started on some actual techniques for the blade that all Shinda Sekai Sensen should know." Before Ito could move to strike a warrior, Sachi spoke up.

"But, I use a rapier not a katana like you. Wouldn't the techniques be different because we use different swords?" Ito actually smirked to the surprise of Suko as she had actually begun to wonder the same thing. But Ito on the other hand began to remember the first time Alli worked with him on sword skills.

_*Flashback*_

_"__Hey Ito, you really are one of the best warriors this group has got. No wonder they made you the leader here." A strawberry blonde girl said to a boy who was currently destroying several training robots that they currently had on base._

_This girl was 16 years old wearing the blue and white sailor uniform of the Shinda Sekai Sensen. Complete with the lack of left sleeve and the class triple S tattoo. What was different about this girl, however, was that in addition to this uniform she wore a white beret on her head. _

_"__Thanks Alli-nee. But I'm only this good after going through the previous war." Ito said in his full Shinda Sekai Sensen outfit. "My only problem is that I have several techniques that I can actually use and almost all of them are known to the US soldiers. Eventually they will find a way to counter them." _

_At this Ito bowed his head in what appeared to be shame. Seeing this as an opening one of the sparing robots tried to attack Ito only for Ito to slice the head off the robot without even looking away from the ground._

_"__Nice Shot." Alli said dryly as she tossed Ito a bottle of water. Ito skillfully caught the bottle midair before drinking some and pouring the rest over his head. "You know there are several good techniques that I could teach you that could really give you an edge in combat." As she said that, she began to draw her Rapier and enter the same arena as Ito._

_"__Wait one sec. How can you teach me a rapier technique while I use a katana?" Ito asked while sheathing his Katana. Knowing that Alli was about to show him, Ito got out of the arena._

_"__This is a technique that has been passed down through my family for several generations before that it was passed down through a Shinto shrine family for who knows how long. Point is, that this technique is only know to a few and because of its origins it should work with a katana. I'm not entirely sure but I think that it actually works with all the weapons the major members of the Sensen use." After saying this, Alli had at least 50 fully armed sparing bots come out._

_"__Alli! That is way too much for you to handle!" Ito said as he made his way to the arena in order to save his friend. Before he could though, Alli held her rapier up in the air, took a deep breath and uttered a single phrase, "March of the Titan." _

_With a single leap, Alli leaped towards the bots and landed a single strike to the ground in the center of the mob of robots creating an explosion that caused a deep crater completely destroying the bots leaving only a few nuts and bolts. _

_"__What just happened?" Ito said surprised at how powerful and fast a move that was. Normally Alli would not be able to handle 4 bots against her but she easily took out 50 bots. As he was he admired the results of the move he saw that Alli was now kneeling on the floor panting as a heavy sweat settled around her. _

_"__Alli-nee!" Ito cried as he rushed over to her. "Are you okay Alli-nee?" Ito asked with genuine concern etched onto his face. _

_"__I'm okay." Alli said with heavy breaths. With a serious look, Alli looked back down at the ground. _

_"__This technique exerts a huge amount energy and force throughout the body. It took me years in order for me to actually work the technique to this level, the problem is that I don't have enough power and energy for it to work. I think you might be able to use this technique better than me." As Alli said the last part, she turned her head up and gave a cheerful smile to Ito. _

_"__So the technique is called 'March of the Titan?'" Ito asked her. Shaking her head, Allison said_

_"__No, 'The March' is an extension of your will. My inner symbol is that of the titan so my march allows me to use titanic strength in order to destroy my enemies in a single swipe. Your March however would be different though. I'm actually excited to see what March you will achieve." _

_Allison, using her sword for support, slowly got up off the ground. Once she had gotten up, she turned away from Ito and started walking away. "You coming?" She said as she turned and flipped her hair. _

_*Flashback End*_

Shaking his head to focus himself, Ito made to reply to Sachi.

"You know, I actually said the same thing to your ancestor when she first told me about this technique. Just watch me first." Ito said as he walked over to the middle of a training circle, just like Alli did to him years ago. Turning the settings to release 1000, fully armed, training bots, Ito centered himself and took a deep breathe. Closing his eyes, Ito allowed for the spirit inside to flow from his center to his legs.

Not even bothering to take out his sword, Ito felt the energy in his legs consolidate until there was enough to use. Ito raised his right leg in an arcing pattern until he was performing an almost perfect split. As his leg was rising, excess green energy seemed to flow from the leg creating a green arc.

On some unknown signal, all of the training bots began to descend upon him. "March of the Kangaroo." Ito said as he opened up his eyes and dropped his leg straight down. Once his heal connected with the ground, the ground beneath him seemed to explode outwards and a dust cloud seemed to roll across the training ring. As the clouds began to disperse, to Sachi's surprise, Ito was standing casually. As if he had not just completely destroyed 100 training bots with one move.

"What was that?" Sachi was barely able to get out, her mouth still open at witnessing the destructive power that Ito exhibited.

"That was my Ba taken form." Ito said as began to walk towards Sachi and Suko.

"Do you know what a Ba is?"

"No, I've never heard of a Ba."

"I should have known as much. You see the Ba is an interesting topic." Ito said brushing a hand through his hair. "In the ancient world of Earth, long before anyone from the current generation was alive, there was a kingdom called Egypt. They believed that the person held 5 aspects to themselves. The Ba, Ka, name, shadow, and Akh. The Ba is the aspect that makes up your personality. What I just used was a technique that allows for your Ba to enhance certain aspects of yourself."

"Isn't the inner spirit just the Kirara?" Sachi asked in confusion, never having heard of an inner spirit.

"You're not wrong," Ito said with a sigh. "The Kirara are the essence of an Idol. But that is still not their Ba. If you look at my Kirara you see that it takes the appearance of a kangaroo while the kirara of the successors vaguely resemble them showing that there is a connection to their personality. The major difference is that the Kirara are not theirs. The kirara that many idols use were created long ago, as a result of Suko's sacrifice."

"A kirara reflects the inner self that can be seen by the individual. For those idols who have found who they were as an idol, their kirara reflects that image for all to see. But if they were to look harder at who they are, then a kirara will be born to reflect that change." Suko said to a now attentive Sachi.

"Your ancestor, Alli had the Titan as her inner spirit and it allowed her to create torrential blast with a single swipe of the blade." Ito said to Sachi.

"Now let's see if we can't find you a spirit?" Suko said clapping her hands together. Taking this as a hint to sit down. Sachi sat down with Ito sitting next to her.

"In order to find your spirit, you subconscious will travel to the spirit realm. There you will search through the spirits until you find one that bonds with you. Normally a person only has one Ba spirit. But there have been cases where multiple spirits form a bond with a single person." Ito said to Sachi with a hand on her shoulder.

"Ito will try to enter into your mind with you, to keep you safe." As Suko said this, she waved a hand over the floor in front of Sachi and Ito. A giant body of water seemed to erupt from the floor and came to rest right at the edge of Sachi's knees.

"Look into the water below. Look into your eyes and concentrate only on my voice. Search for the forest. Search through the forest." Silo said touching the center of the water.

As the waves rippled across the pond, crossing her eyes, Sachi entered a trance along with Ito. Their bodies remained the same, but their minds drifted off, far away.

*Sachi POV*

Opening my eyes, I see myself in a dark and desolate cave. The air is moist and the smell was horrid.

"Ito!" I called out trying to find where he is. I wait for a minute before trying again.

"Ito!" Still no response. Seeing a light in the distance, I decide to go towards it and get out of this terrible cave.

I start running and emerge from the cave on top of a cliff face. I was in awe, for before me was a huge expanse of nature. To my left, a grassy plain full of the most magical of creatures from the great wooly mammoth, to the common deer. To my right, sea serpents danced in play with young gold fish sliding down their back. To my front I see the greatest forest in the world. The trees were thick and taller than 200 feet, and the forest as a whole seemed to be filled with life, yet I could see none within.

From my cliff, all of this world of wonder and amazement could be seen and yet, there still was no Ito. I was wondering what to do next when the earth beneath me began to rumble. The rumble grew and grew until I fell over. Trying to see what was going on I looked over the edge of the cliff to see a pink head?

'The heck?' I thought to myself, I scrambled back to avoid being hit by the rising object. As it passed the cliff face, I saw it truly was a pink head but not just a head but an entire body. This giant of a man was at least 100 feet tall and … not wearing skin.

Rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I saw that the giant being before me truly wasn't wearing skin. It was all just muscle but anatomically it still looked human. That's not even the worst part! The worst part is the stupid grin that it had on its face. That alone would make me scream in terror. But for some reason I was unable to scream or move.

"Hi!" He voiced in a booming tone while raising his right hand in a waving motion.

"Umm, Hi?" I said waving my right hand as well. This didn't seem to help the situation as he continued to look straight at me without speaking a word.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You don't know where you are?" He said with confusion before laughing a jovial laugh. Not an I'm going to enjoy eating you laugh, more like a Santa Clause just ate the cookies laugh.

"Young one, you are in the realm of the spirits. Here every spirit, every Ba, lives together in harmony. You probably came here searching for your Ba am I right?" He said.

"Yes my name is Sachi and my Uncle was supposed to be here with me to help me find my inner spirit."

"Wait, Sachi? As in descendent of Alli? The last wielder of the rapier Sachi?" He said bringing his eyes level with my own. He had lost that grin of his and was actually serious for once.

"Yes? How did you..." I go to ask him but before I can his grin breaks out again.

"Why didn't you say so?" He said with that same jovial tone he had before. "Oh I just realized that I haven't introduced myself." He said taking a few steps back so I can see his full body. With a flourish of his arm he tucked it into his body and body down at the waist.

"I am the titan known as Obelisik the Tormentor. The chosen Ba of Alli Clark, one of the eternal warriors of the Shinda Sekai sensen."

"I thought the Ba was the inner spirit, the essence of a person? That is what my master said." I asked truly confused, a lot has happened in the past hour.

"He must truly be worthy, that's the intro to this place. No, the Ba is a chosen companion which may help you attain higher power in your world. We spirits willingly help but there are some in your realm that would try to come and force a companionship. No we say that we are inner spirits because it's safer."

"Umm ok."

"You know what, I'm gonna help you find your Ba. Does that work?" He asked me. I knew that he genuinely wanted to help me so I nodded yes.

Holding out his hand level to the cliff side, I jumped onto it and we began to walk.

"So what kind of creature do you want? An idol? A warrior of strength? A defender? A flier? What suites you?" He asked looking forward not even eying me.

"I have no idea. Maybe something nice but dangerous when angered?" I said honestly not knowing what type of creature I would want.

"Here." He said lowering me to the ground. At this point we were equidistant to all three areas. "Walk in whichever direction you feel is right and we shall find your Ba." He said while taking a step back.

Looking over my options I looked to the plains and saw a great number of creatures. Though there were a great number, I couldn't see one that was dangerous enough. Looking to the sea, I see many kinds of aquatic creatures, creatures that have been extinct for centuries. They wouldn't be any help to me. Looking to the forest, I couldn't see any creatures, but I could hear many noises. The forest itself seemed to be filled with life, yet from the outside it showed none. I knew what I had to do. So I began to walk forward in to the forest.

Walking in the forest was different than the grass plains back home. At home the only scents that one could smell was the scent of flowers and the wind seemed to speak in your ear. But here, the only smell I could smell was the smell of decay and the air itself seemed stale. I moved slowly hoping not to anger anything when I felt a slight pull.

This pull was not a physical pull but I could feel the need to go left. Following this pull I began to walk faster and faster as the pull began to grow stronger. This creature was to be my Ba, I just know it.

Bursting through the trees and into a clearing, I feel a crunch beneath my feet. Looking down at my feet, I see a broken bone. I back up a bit but with each step I hear another crack of a bone. Looking around, all I could see were piles and piles of bones. But in the center of this clearing of bones, was a little rabbit.

I don't know why but I felt the need to help this rabbit. Whatever it was that caused all of these deaths was sure to return soon and I didn't want the rabbit to be its next meal.

"Here little rabbit." I said while whistling quietly to draw its attention. "Come here. We need to go." As I said this the rabbit began to hop towards me a bit. Obviously warry of me, the bunny stopped for a second before coming closer and closer till it hopped into my waiting hands.

"Hey little guy." I said as I began to rub its back. "Are you my Ba?" I asked him, half not expecting an answer. But to my surprise the bunny looked to me and began to nod its head.

"Wait, you can understand me?" I asked. Yet again I received a nod.

"Sachi, are you there?" I could hear Obelisk ask. I only now just realized that he was no longer by my side.

"I'm over here Obelisk." I called out to him. Hearing a rustling in the nearby trees, I turn to see Obelisk walking into the clearing. "I found my Ba." I told him, holding out my new companion.

"I'm surprised, the Rabbit of Caerbannog typically doesn't like other people or spirits but seems fine in your arms." He told me in a nonchalant way.

"Oh is that what this little guy's title is?" I ask and began rubbing noses with it. "You need a proper name little one. You know what, I'm gonna call you Bern. Does that work?" I said to him. Yet again I received a nod before he froze.

Suddenly all of the noise in the forest was silenced. No one dared to move as a single melody was heard. It wasn't loud but it still seemed to be heard all around me. As beautiful as it sounds, I could feel the atmosphere begin to tense up.

Looking back towards Obelisk, I see the blood drain from the muscles on his face. His normally happy grin was now replaced with a dark and terrified expression. I didn't understand what was going on. This melody seemed normal to be a great piece played on the flute but I still had no idea what would cause the happy titan to become so fearful. Even Bern was scared, which was even worse after he killed a whole wolf just earlier.

"We must go…" He told me in a very slow tone like he wasn't fully there. Looking in to his eyes, I could see that he wasn't looking at me. Instead he was looking at the sky in fear. Slowly he turned down his head down to look me dead in the eye. Realizing the situation and that I was still there, his eyes began to bulge.

"We have to go!" He shouted, and all together the forest seemed to come alive. All the creatures began to run as fast as they could. Farther and farther away from the source of the music. Obelisk scooped me and Bern up and began to run.

"Obelisk what's going on?" I asked in a confused tone as I was now being carried in one hand by a 100ft tall skinless man. No matter how I spin this, it was the weirdest moment of my life.

"That is The March!" He said frantically while still running. I did not know that we went this far in.

"What like a power march? What's so special about that?" I asked as he just got out of the forest. He set me down at the entrance to the cave.

"No not a march, The March. The march that all of the powers come from. It summons the one of the most dangerous spirits in all of the realms, the Dragon King Abilmelchk." He said in a hushed tone. I was about to ask another question before a bit of the sky above turned a deep emerald green and a great roar could be heard.

I have never felt this frightened before, the sound was almost primal in rage. I turn to ask Obelisk about it but he pushed me and Bern into the cave.

Waking up in the real world, I could feel the sweat still all over my body. I turn to see that Ito was still mediating and I began to freak out.

*Ito POV*

'Where did Suko's voice go?' I thought to myself as I couldn't hear Suko talk anymore. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was no longer in the training room with Suko and Sachi. Instead I was in a dark looking forest. Beneath my feet lay centuries of mulch and other debris. I could smell the decay that seemed to permeate the air. The trees were a light gray with no leaves. Almost as if they were petrified. Not believing my location I looked up to the sky to see a night sky.

To any experienced astronomer, the stars and their orientations would be unknown. But to Ito he remembered the exact location of each of those stars. The stars etched into the face of a twin colored sky. A dark emerald green on one side, the other was a chaotic red that seemed to be in an endless conflict across the sky.

"Oh shit!" I said out loud. This was a place that I never wanted to visit again. I kept it here so that it would not tempt me again to use its destructive power. Realizing that I had no choice, I continued through the forest until I came to what seemed to be the ruins of a city. The streets were deserted, cars flipped over, and worst of all, not a single form of life in sight.

The air stilled as I walked down the old streets, remembering this place from my time back in the USA.

"This was my home, my life. Where I was a kid. Where life was supposed to be fun." I said to no one in particular. I continued to walk in a daze, barely noticing as I passed a sign.

Now this sign wasn't anything extraordinary. Just a simple sign to welcome to a city or a particular part of the city. The sign seemed to be missing half of it for the only words that could be discerned was "OVE BEACH."

Realizing I was at the beach, I gazed out to the dark sea. For once it was calm and quite. With the gently rolling waves, I finally began to understand why I was called to this place again.

"Why have you of all people called me to this point?" I said aloud.

"You know why I am here." A voice behind me stated with a matter of fact tone. Turning around I see who the figure is. While everyone of this time period sees him as an expanse of Kirara, the figure before me is not the grandiose mastermind that everyone imagines.

The man in front of me could be no more than 6' 5" with a little bit of a pooch that doesn't show too much. He wore a black suit that was seen by people back in the 21st century and a pair of glasses. Too any other person he seemed like a big creep, and they would be right. But the absolute worst part of it all, was the stupid cup of Jagariko (potato chips shaped in thin sticks sold in cup o noodle like packages) that he was eating.

"This place, full of destruction and chaos, it serves as a reminder of the destruction that your bloodline can cause." He told me taking a bite of Jagariko.

"Ok I get that but why now, of all times, was I brought to this place?" I said getting more and more agitated with every word. "I sealed Her here so that destruction like this would be harder to achieve. And why in all Nine Rings of Hell are you still eating that stupid Jagariko?" I shouted out in anger. But he still continued to eat with that passive expression that he always had.

"Do you know why I'm still alive?" He asked walking right next to me and gazed out over the ocean.

"Is it because your creation still needs your help to listen to the Goddess of Idols?" I asked remembering him talk about that before. All he did was laugh and smile a bit.

"Close. Very close. It's true that they still need me to listen to the Goddess and the hearts of everyone. But I also exist to nurture every one of my children, including you." He said finishing another stick of his snack.

"I don't understand." I admit both to myself and to him.

"You don't have to. You still have your mortality and have not embraced eternity. The universe still has secrets that you can't know. Secrets that can change fate itself. But I can say this, war is coming. Make peace with your demons, or in this case demon, for this worlds and all others beside Earth will need you." As he said this, he began to dissolve into a flurry of butterflies which then flew off into the moon.

"Of course Akimoto-sensei." I said locking at the place where he just disappeared from. Turning back to the sea I steel myself for what I need to do. Grasping at my right hip, a simple silver flute appears in my hand. Bringing it to my mouth I feared for what I was about to do.

"March of the Dragon!" I say softly as a familiar melody came from the flute. The melody that came pouring out the flute was very harmonious and seemed to be heard all across the spirit realm. Just the sound of the tune brought a dangerous feeling to the air. (A/N: March of the Dragon is an actual flute piece. For those who have understood the reference, it is the song that is played through use of the dragon dagger flute to summon the Dragon Zord. It is a great song and I highly recommend that you listen to it.)

Upon hearing the sound, a series of bubbles began to appear in the ocean, until a giant beast rose from its depth. Standing at a monstrous height of 150 feet, the beast was a scaly bipedal creature with a tail, tiny arms and a giant snout that would put all three heads of Cerberus to shame. Though it looked like it would come to me, the beast made no motion to move forward as its limbs were being held by four silver chains.

"Greetings Abilmelchk, King of the Dragons and Keeper of Order." I said with a low bow. I knew that he may have held some distain to me so I needed to show that I am sorry.

"**So the prodigal son has returned**." He said with a booming voice that echoed for thousands of miles. "**Why do you come? I have done my duty and been bound by the same chains She has.**"

"Amikoto-sensei and the Goddess of Idols have told me a great war is to come. One that is sure to hold much destruction and pain." I said coming out of my bow to look straight at the Dragon.

"**Ahhh I remember the fool Akimoto. So he joined with the Goddess of Idols. Hmmmm. But war is on the horizon? Why though would you come when you know that She would be better for chaos and destruction?**"

"She was my power, many a years ago. But she was too destructive, even more so than you. Even with all the bindings I placed on Her," I said looking up to the sky. "She still seems to match your power." Abilmelchk looked up to see the same fight for power that I saw. As I was talking the red seemed to become more aggressive across the sky.

"**She seems to be stirring.**" Abilmelchk said in a hurried and fearful tone. Casting his gaze back at me, I saw that he genuinely did not want her to escape her prison. Sighing in dejection, I moved my right hand to my exposed left arm, just covering the kangaroo. With a quick motion, I pulled the kangaroo off of my arm and threw it at the binds covering Abilmelchk's left arm.

With a resounding crack the binds covering his arm opened up and dropped down into the water. Moving his arm around Abilmelchk looked to the sky as his eyes began to glow a brilliant green. As this occurred, the conflict in the sky began to turn in favor of the green.

"**Go now! I am able to push her back enough for you to escape! Go!**" Abilmelchk roared.

"I will be back. When I do, you shall be free again." I said as I close my eyes and come out of the trance to see Suko trying to comfort a clearly distraught Sachi.

*3rd Person POV*

"So how did your trip turn out?" Ito said to Sachi as if she wasn't about to go into shock.  
"It was fine and dandy until I was essentially kicked out of the realm." Sachi replied in a calmer tone, apparently having Ito their made her feel safer than before.

"How did you manage to do that? Even I was never kicked out of the spirit realm. More like they tried to keep me there forever." Ito said while muttering the last part.

"All I know is one moment I am playing with my Ba, the Rabbit of Caerbannog, and then I suddenly heard a mysterious sound being played across the whole realm. Then everyone was charging and trying to run away as fast as they could. Obelisk had to shove me and Bern through the cave in order to escape this so called evil." She said in a very tired tone of voice.

"Sweetie, do you remember what he called this evil." Suko asked in her motherly voice.

"He called it The March." Suko said while shaking slightly at the March. Upon hearing this, Suko turned her gaze slowly over to Ito and began to give him a deep glare. Ito began to cringe under the weight of Suko's glare.

"Ito can I talk to you outside." Suko said in a sickly sweet tone. All Ito could do was not his head and follow Suko outside. Once the two of them were outside, Suko began to hit him and question him.

"What the hell were you thinking Ito? You sealed the two of them in so that they wouldn't cause damage in any realm and here you are summoning the Dragon of Order, which you know frightens animal spirits, while you were supposed to be helping your student search for her inner spirit. Instead she has to rely on Obelisk and eventually comes out with one of the most dangerous creatures from the spirit realm. What is your reasoning?" Suko finally asked after blowing up at Ito and slightly calming down.

"I don't know how I ended up in the Grove, but I do know this. Once I got there, I was greeted by an old friend of ours." Ito said in an angry voice, just at the thought of Akimoto.

"Don't tell me. Akimoto was there and he was eating Jagariko." Suko said remembering how much Ito hated the food.

"Yes it was him. Of all the foods he could be addicted to, why did it have to be one of the only ones in this whole universe that I hate? Also while he was there, he kept getting crumbs all over my spirit scape seriously. I hate Jagariko so much and now I've got crumbs of Jagariko all over my spirit scape." Ito said as he ranted to Suko.

"What did he say?" Suko said after letting Ito get all of his repressed anger out.

"He said that war was on the horizon and that at the very least I am going to have to eventually release him from his seal. You know what that means right?" He asked Suko.

"Yeah, if you release him from his seal, then She will be free to leave and you have no idea what could happen as a result." Suko said to Ito.

"Yeah. That's exactly it, for all I know She will be the cause of all our destruction." Ito said as Suko placed an arm around her Fiancé.

"I'll be right here honey." There they sat outside, for a while at least, with just each other for company.

"Let's head inside." Ito said to Suko, so the two of them went inside and saw an amazing sight. The girl who they were training only just hours ago was now sleeping soundly, cuddling with her rabbit.

"You know Ito, let's go out now and see what Akibastar has in store for us." She said offering Ito her right arm. Ito, being the guy he is, took the arm and together the two of them walked out of the house. As if the two were back in Japan, they decided against using personal transportation and instead chose to use the train system that was in place to get from the Mansion to the middle of Akibastar.

Now when they got to Akibastar, Suko was amazed. For being only one of two people in living memory who had been able to see Akihabara, this place was amazing in comparison. It had the feeling of being the home of AKB0048 while at the same time being large and accommodating to the general populace. The only thing she could fault them for was the stadium being too big but other than that it was great.

Standing outside the AKB theatre, the two could only feel nostalgia at the site. Suko was remembering the first time AKB performed at the Tokyo Dome, as the theatre looked surprisingly like the Tokyo dome from the outside. The memories, both happy and sad came to the fore front of her mind. Having to cheer everyone up from being nervous before the performance. Standing on stage for the final song of the evening. But at the same time it brought back her depressed memories. Before the last war, she was planning on graduating at the Tokyo dome, in front of all of Japan, and finally being able to be with Ito for the rest of their lives.

For Ito, it reminded him of home, not this world that was built upon the ruins of a civilization. No their house, their plans, all of it was gone. But now that they were together again everything could begin to rebuild.

"Like this, right? Ito and Suko stopped when they heard that voice. Spinning around, they saw a crowd gathered around two individuals. Looking closer they saw that it was Nagisa and Chieri practicing some moves in the streets.

"Wrong." Chieri said abruptly. Nagisa stopped dancing and responded

"But Yuuko-san moved like that at her last performance." At this Chieri shook her head.

"No, the steps were bigger, like this." As Chieri said this she began to dance from side to side. Looking up from the ground, Chieri looked as saw that a group had begun to form around them. Seeing Chieri's reaction, Nagisa too looked around and saw the crowd that had gathered.

"When did they all… U-um, we're sorry! This isn't a performance or anything! We were talking about our mentor's dancing and got kind of into it. Then we tried it out but it didn't feel right, so we kept going… Um, sorry for causing a scene!" Nagisa said very nervously. She didn't mean to draw a crowd like this but the dancing seemed to have made people want to watch. Instead of the feeling of sadness she expected, a round of applause came from the people gathered instead. Looking back at Chieri, Nagisa realized that both of them were confused by this action as well.

"If it doesn't feel right, then just continue." Ito said from the crowd of people. Upon hearing someone speak, the bit of crowd in front of him moved to the side to make way for him.

"Ito-sempai. Atsuko-sempai." Both girls said in awe before bowing.

"If you two are going to make a scene, then make a scene." Suko said to the girls.

"What do you meeeaaaannnn?" Nagisa began to say before Ito began to beat box and Suko began to dance in beat with Ito's music. To the onlookers, it looked wild and amazing, the image of perfection. To Nagisa and Chieri, it looked like a goal, someone that they could look up to, to reach the stars. But for Ito and Suko, it was a welcomed reminder that they were now home.

When Ito had stopped beat boxing and Suko had come to a standstill, there was a silent pause. That was until the crowd began to cheer loudly. Ito turned back and looked at Chieri and Nagisa,

"Come on you two time to head back to our dorms." At this the four began to walk back from the downtown area and to the dorms.

"Hey Chieri," Ito heard Nagisa say behind them. "When we get back to the dorm, wanna practice Yuuko-san's moves together?"

"Sure, I'll prove you've got it wrong." Chieri said with a slight grin on her face.

"Ouch!" Ito said softly. Hearing this all four of them began laughing their way back to the dorms.


End file.
